
m 



mmmm 






DEDICA' 




WN AI 



LEXINGT 






18 71 









Copy 1 



AN 



OR ATTO]^, 



DELIVERED AT LEXINGTON ON THE 



3ij(lication of tltit |^oiun and j||emoi;iaI tall 



APKIL 19, 1871, 



BEING THE 



96TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BATTLE OF 



LEXINGTON. ^ 



:.A^\ 

BY DR. GEORGE B/LORING. 



WITH THE PROCEEDINGS AND A HISTORICAL 
APPENDIX. 




BOSTON: 

PRESS OF T. R'. MARVIN & SON, 
18 71. 



^0 tbc pcmorg of 
SAMUELADAMS, WHO INSPIRED, 

AND 

JOHN A. ANDREW, WHO SUSTAINED, 

the heroism and devotion to freedom and humanity, which have given 

Massachusetts her great name, I reverently dedicate this 

Memorial of the valor of Lexington in the 

two great American Wars. 



ORATION. 



Fellow-Citizens : 

!Ni]srETY-six years ago to-day the town of Lex- 
ington became immortal in history. The story is 
a famihar one. It has been recorded by the care- 
ful and patient annalist; illumined by the poet; 
exalted by the orator; repeated with holy zeal at 
the fireside; passed from tongue to tongue along 
all the admiring lands; and received as an inspi- 
ration by all the sons of men toiling and hoping 
to be free. And what a wonderful story it is! 
There had been great wars, and great protests; 
— great wars for freedom and independent 
nationality, great protests against tyranny and 
oppression. There had been great efforts, and 
great failures; — great efforts to establish j^opular 
government, and great failures in organizing 
republican states. For the diffusion of Christian 
light, and the freedom of Christian thought, man 
had risen to the sublimest heights of heroism; 
and, betrayed too often, had been left in the 
darkness of despair. The history of popular 
resistance was not encouraging; the history of 
popular effort was not in all things admirable. 
The clouds which gathered around aspiring 



6 

humanity had hecii dark and heavy. The world 
had beheld with astonishment and admiration 
mingled with contempt, the dismal and tempest- 
uous voyage of those who had launched forth 
upon the stormy sea of high purpose and reform. 
"No greatness of unshaken empire, no possession 
of permanent power had yet rewarded the sons 
of revolution and revolt. There was indeed the 
dauntless protesting spirit, which no convulsion 
could extinguish, no disaster chill; there were, 
too, the traditions of freedom; but no more. 

It was the inspiration of this defiant spirit, the 
natural .inheritance of our fathers, of our 'New 
England fathers at least, sons of Puritans, and 
Separatists, and Kon-conformists, recognizing 
amidst all surrounding events, whatever was 
manly, and generous, and just, and noble, which 
immortalized this spot. The scene, enacted here, 
in all its attributes, in all its significance, in all its 
touching associations and high quality, has not 
been equalled. There is a romance and sublimity 
about it, not woven around the old battle-fields, 
and the classic passes even. Its simplicity is 
captivating and amazing. The courage, and 
confidence, and faith, the untutored assurance, 
the absence of all art, the jjrescnce of all natural 
nobility, the unassuming self-assertion, displayed 
here — have they ever been surpassed? We are 
familiar with deeds of personal daring — and with 
the courage of heroic bands, on occasions where 
the exercise of heroic qualities seemed to be 
more natural than the exercise of meaner ones; 
but not with the sudden and spontaneous con- 



version of a small and placid community into a 
towering ridge of defiance, and immortal pur- 
pose, reaching to the skies. 

But around this little hamlet of eight or ten 
families, a century ago, there was a rare accumu- 
lation of great thoughts and lofty emotions. To 
this little isolated community, the soundest doc- 
trines of free societ}^ and state, civil and I'eligious 
freedom, the events of American history, the 
breadth and strength of American humanity, the 
depth and wisdom of American thought, be- 
longed by inheritance. Upon the people of this 
town had fallen the stern virtues, and all the 
hardy qualities which had been nourished by the 
trials and hardshijDS which attended the founders 
of the American empire. These virtues were 
the precious freight of the Mayflower, and they 
had been developed and strengthened by the 
hard experiences of the colonists, and their de- 
scendants for many generations. By history and 
tradition were their minds cultivated to the high- 
est conceptions of nationality. The familiar 
thought of the time was of high and solemn im- 
port. And it was the remarkable and peculiar 
fortune of Lexington, that to her bosom had 
come for safety and repose the great agitators 
of that day, and that her spiritual guide and 
light was one who "took a broad and enlight- 
ened view of the duties and obligations of the 
citizen." 

On the night of the 18th of April, 1775, 
Gerry, and Orne, and Lee, had found shelter 
in a near and adjoining town, and Adams and 



8 

Hancock were guarded by Mnnroc and his brave 
band, at the honse of the Rev. Jonas Clark, in 
this immediate neighborhood. Are yon sur- 
prised that the custodians of such precious lives, 
should have baptized the cause of American 
freedom with their blood in the early morning? 
Tliev had not forgotten, moreover, the teachings 
of their beloved pastor, the friend and coiniection 
of Hancock, the equal of Adams in all mental 
and moral qualities, who while he protected the 
patriots, and shared their dangers, exclaimed: — 
" Inspired with the principles of piety, governed 
by the laws of God, encouraged and supported 
with motives of religion, such men in the court 
or in the field, in peace and in war, in private and 
in public stations, look with a generous contempt, 
a sacred abhorrence upon every advantage they 
might make to themselves at the expense of their 
virtue. ISTo self-interest, no venal motive can 
countervail with them the public good, the safety 
and happiness of society — of mankind. The 
powers of the great and the flatteries of the vul- 
gar are equally despised; the greatest trials are 
cheerfully endured, the most self-den^^ing serv- 
ices are with pleasure engaged in, in the cause of 
God. In honor to God they wait upon the king, 
in devotion to Him they serve their country, and 
for the glory of His name stand ready cheerfully 
to submit to every hardship, firmly to fiice every 
danger, and for the support of His cause, and 
the defence of the liberties and lives of His peo- 
ple, freely to make their own a sacrifice, and shed 
their dearest blood."" Are you surprised that a 



9 

pastor like this should lead a patriotic people? 
They remembered the words of the " noble- 
minded WiNTHROP," when he appeared at the 
bar of his acciisei's to sustain the character and 
administration of Massachusetts — " Civil liberty 
is the proper end and object of authority, and 
cannot subsist without it. It is a liberty to that 
only which is good, just and honest. This lib- 
erty you are to stand foi", with the hazard not 
only of your goods, but, if need be, of your 
lives." They remembered also that the fathers 
of New England by a solemn instrument, in the 
words of Hutchinson, "formed themselves into a 
proper democracy," The glowing words of 
Waj'ren, just then advancing along the refulgent 
path which led to his martyrdom: — "lam con- 
vinced that the true spirit of liberty was never 
so universally diffused through all ranks and or- 
ders of men, on the face of the earth, as it now 
is through all North America," were uttered as a 
direct appeal to them. They had heard the fiery 
eloquence and unanswerable argument of James 
Otis, which, as John Adams said, " breathed into 
this country the breath of life." The voice of 
Samuel Adams was ringing in their ears, pvo- 
claiming: " We will not submit to any tax, nor 
become slaves. We will take up arms, and spend 
our last drop of blood before the King and Par- 
liament shall impose on us, and settle crown offi- 
cers in this country to dragoon us. The country 
was first settled by our ancestors, therefore we 
are free, and want no king. The times were 
never better in Rome than when they had no 



10 

king and were a free state; and as this is a great 
empire, we shall have it in onr power to give 
laws to England; " spoken with a spirit of defi- 
ance which has not yet been defeated, and with 
a spii'it of proi3hecy which, as the Lord liveth, 
will one day be fulfilled. > And they had heard 
the call of that unknown sentinel on the watch- 
towers, who cried: — " If an army shook! be sent 
to reduce us to slavery, we will put our lives in 
our hands, and cry to the Judge of all the earth, 
who will do right, saying: Behold, how they 
come to cast us out of thy possession, wdiich thou 
hast given us to inherit. Help us, O Lord, our 
God, for we rest on Thee, and in thy name we 
go against this multitude! " 

If we would fully appreciate the devotion and 
valor wdiich inspired these words, we should ever 
bear in mind what " a feeble folk " our fathers 
were, in all the attributes which constitute a state. 
The population of the colonies, at the time when 
they made their stand here for civil freedom, 
and dreamed with Samuel Adams of American 
nationality, was less than three millions; that of 
Massachusetts was less than three hundred thou- 
sand; that of Boston about thirteen thousand. 
The entries of foreign and coasting vessels into 
the port of Boston, were about three hundred 
annually, and the clearances about four hundred. 
The valuation of all the property of Massachu- 
setts, including the Province of Maine, was about 
ten millions only. The travel on the great line 
to New York was all more than accommodated, 
(the conveyances being less crowded than at this 



11 

day,) by two stage-coaches and twelve horses. 
The strangers who visited Boston hmded mostly 
at Long Wharf, we ai-e told. Where these stran- 
gers came from we are not told, l^o bridges 
spanned the Charles or the Mystic — and none 
had been projected to East Boston. In Essex 
connty7 one of the oldest and most populous 
sections of the colony, there were only three post- 
offices, and the appointment of three post-mas- 
ters was all the patronage of that kind which the 
Provincial Congress possessed. A weekly mail 
was a luxury; a weekly newspaper was all that 
the most inquisitive or ambitious could obtain for 
the gratification of their curiosity or ventilation 
of their views. The entire population of that 
section of Massachusetts, through which the 
British troops passed on their way to Concord, 
including a territory of five miles on either hand, 
was less than five thousand. The entire Ameri- 
can army employed during the Revolutionary 
war which opened at Lexington, was less than 
twenty thousand men. And seven thousand 
American regulars, five thousand French troops, 
and four thousand militia, defeated Cornwallis at 
Yorktown, and secured our independence, with a 
loss of three hundred men. Of wdiat our fathers 
had not, in these days of steam, and magnetism, 
and hourly mails, and half-hourly newspapers, 
and daily intelligence fron Cathay and farthest 
Ind, and teeming toAvns, and a country pojDulous 
from sea to sea, and armies flashing a million 
bayonets, with siege guns, which mounted on 
Bunker Hill, would bombard Salem on the one 



12 

hand and Lexington on the other — it were vain 
to endeavor to tell. 

It is difficult to conceive why great fleets, and 
the flower of the English army should have been 
sent to subdue a people like this — a people feeble 
in numbers and resources, and so reasonable in 
their demands upon the mother countiy, that the 
most powerful eloquence in the British Parlia- 
ment was heard in their defence. But so it was: 
and the arrogance of man was once more em- 
ployed to accomplish a divine purpose. It is not 
easy to understand why imposing military feints 
at midday, and forays at midnight, and Sunday 
excursions among a church-going people, should 
have been organized to overawe and terrify — 
unless the invader carried in his breast that con- 
science which " makes cowards of ns all." And 
it is impossible to comprehend the reason why 
Leslie retreated fi'om Salem, without firing a 
gun, leaving the imperial Pickering master of 
the field ; or why a well-armed and disciplined 
body of veteran troops did not pursue a trium- 
phant and destroying way to Concord, blasting a 
tei'rified country in their march, and returning 
laden with the spoils of victor}^; nnless the man- 
ifest wickedness, and cowardice of the enterprise 
had paralyzed their arms. As we look back upon 
the repeated insults heaped npon the people of 
Boston, the occupation of her harbor with float- 
ing batteries, the slaughter of her citizens in her 
peaceful streets, the occupation of the town with 
strong militarj^ force, our hearts are filled with 
gratitude to that overruling Providence, who 



13 

stayed the hands of the powerful, and converted 
all his efforts into the simple lesson that for the 
cause of freedom, " it must needs be that offences 
come." And we rehearse the story of those few 
eventful hom's, which we have met to commemo- 
rate, with mingled gratitude and admiration, and 
with that sense of fascination, which the tale of 
rare adventure and great purpose always awakens. 
The night of the eighteenth of April comes 
on, mild and soft as midsummer, and the hour 
approaches when the signal of conflict is to 
be given to a waiting American people. The 
hidden designs of the British governor are di- 
vulged to the officers of the British army, and 
the work of carrjdng them into operation com- 
mences. That the vigilant and watchful patriots 
are informed and alert is soon apparent. Joseph 
Warren is more than a match for Lord Percy. 
By the way of Roxbury he despatches William 
Dawes — and across the river to Charlestown he 
sends Paul Pevere. At that moment the lights 
are fixed on the ]N^orth Church steeple, and be- 
fore a man of the British soldiery was embarked 
in the boats which were to convey the army to 
the shore of Middlesex, " the news of their com- 
ing was travelling with the rapidity of light 
through the country." On spedPevere, arousing 
the inhabitants in every hamlet and on all the 
wayside. He warned Adams and Hancock of 
their danger, at the house of Rev. Mr. Clark; 
roused Samuel Prescott to the work; was cap- 
tured by British officers on the road, was released, 
and returned with renewed vigor to his rally. 



14 

Every patriot upon Avhose head a price had been 
set was placed in safety, to aAvait the moment- 
ous events of the coming day; and in the silent 
watches of the night, the militia of Lexington, 
under Captain John Parker, assembled on this 
green, to scatter, after some delay, each man to 
his own home; and slumber settled down once 
more upon the silent spot. But now the morn- 
ing of the nineteenth of April dawned, Wednes- 
day morning, ninety-six years ago this day of 
week and month; and just before the sun 
appeared above the horizon, the British troops, 
folloAving an advance guard, marched with quick, 
defiant step, into the little village, and were con- 
fronted by Parker's hastily gathered company, 
drawn up in battle array, — the unconscious 
heroes, in whose hands was placed the sublime ser- 
vice of firing the first shot for American freedom, 
and a Republic of human equality. And there 
they fell — Parker, and Muzzey, and Munroe, and 
Jonathan and Caleb Harrington, and Hadley, 
and Brown, the seven sons of Lexington — and 
Porter, the offering sent by AYoburn to the sacri- 
fice; — there they fell; and the invader passed on; 
the widow and the orphan remained behind; the 
long agony had begun. " Day came in all the 
beauty of an early spring. The trees were bud- 
ding; the grass growing rankly a full month be- 
fore its time; the blue bird and the robin glad- 
dening the genial season, and calling forth the 
beams of the sun which on that morning shone 
with the warmth of summer; but distress and 
horror gathered over the inhabitants of the peace- 



15 

fill town. There, on the green, lay in death the 
gray-haired and the young; the grassy field was 
red with the innocent blood of their brethren 
slain, crying unto God for vengeance from the 
ground." The invader passed on to meet the 
men of Acton, and Concord, and Bedford, and 
Carlisle, and Littleton, and Chelmsford, and 
Reading, and Sudbury; and to be harrassed in 
an ignominious flight by the gathering militia 
from all adjoining towns. The blood of Essex 
mingled with that of Middlesex in the great 
event — and the men of Danvers lay down with 
the heroes of Acton, and Bedford, and Lexing- 
ton, to awake to a glorious immortality. " From 
the nineteenth of April, 1775," said the Rev. 
Jonas Clark, the learned and fervent, "will be 
dated the liberty of the American world." 

]**^inety-six years have passed away, my friends, 
since the events I have narrated; and what a 
new and refulgent chapter has been added to 
American history in our own day! What a 
chapter to the illustrious record of this most fa- 
vored town! It seems almost needless to recite 
it here, where every event was brought home to 
your own fireside, in the personal history of 
every father, and brother, and son who went 
forth to war; where the charities of the hour 
were dispensed with unbounded liberality; and 
where the bereavements of the conflict were 
brought home to many a sorrow-stricken heart. 
And yet an amazing chapter this is — casting into 
the shade the marvels of romance, and all the 
heroic adventure that poet ever painted. 



16 

A New England youth, with the blood of the 
Puritan running in his veins, and the stern resolve 
of the Puritan slumbering in his heart, had passed 
his days in the quiet pleasures and pursuits of a 
New England village. His mind had been culti- 
vated in the simple and useful studies of the 
district school. He had been taught to " forgive 
his enemies," as the foundation of true Christian 
courage, and as the first step pointed out by Him 
who is the way, and the truth, and the life. He 
had adopted the honest calling of his fathers, — 
resolved to preserve those manly and reliable 
qualities which had given his people ^their power 
and influence through many generations. The 
traditions of the old wars, and trials, and suc- 
cesses of his country, the trophies of his ances- 
tors hanging on the walls of his humble dwell- 
ing, tauglit him through what rugged paths his 
rights and privileges as a citizen had come down 
to him. When the nineteenth of April came 
round, he had before him the bloody drama on 
the village green of Lexington. When the seven- 
teenth of June returned, he heard the roar of 
the cannon on Bunker Hill, and saw " the thick 
volumes of smoke and flame rising from the 
burning Charlestown." He believed in the Re- 
public, and in that portion of it especially known 
as Massachusetts, the home of human equality, 
of firm faith, and high aspiration. In the dim 
and shadowy past stood the giant forms of the 
mighty dead who had given his country power 
and renown, types of heroic virtues in their 
day and generation; watching Avith solemn and 



17 

earnest gaze from their celestial battlements, the 
country they had transmitted to their sons. 

It is not easy to imagine the event which could 
burst upon this young man's home, and provide 
him with a new existence, in which all his slum- 
bering energies might find inspiration. But the 
event came. The existence of that Union he 
had been taught to love, was threatened, and the 
echoes of the signal gun of rebellion, reverbera- 
ting across the land, reached his quiet home. 
From that moment a life of heroism commenced. 
Obedient to the first call of his country, he re- 
ceived the blessing of his mothei", turned away 
with hidden emotion from his sister's tears, sum- 
moned his manliness, and entered upon his career. 
The trials of the rendezvous, the jar and tumult 
of the multitude, the weary march, the loneliness 
and solitude of a life with an unknown crowd, 
the intense excitement of desperate adventure, 
and oh! that longing and aching thought of 
home! what a weight to bear, as he joined that 
first regiment from Massachusetts, and hastened 
to defend and save the capital from the tread of 
the invader. Amidst the hardships of the camp, 
the wildness of battle, the weariness of the 
march, the burning heat, and the biting cold, 
now stunned and blinded in the charge, and now 
a patient sufferer in the hospital, in prison to- 
day, and in the very jaws of death to-morrow, 
he performs the self-sacrificing duty which his 
country has imposed upon her defenders. The 
disasters of the Union army are his sorrows — its 
successes are his joys. He follows his flag in 



18 

victory and defeat — disheartened never — perhaps 
with Meade at Gettysburg, pei-haps with Sheri- 
dan in the valley, perhaps with Hooker at Look- 
out Mountain, perhaps with Grant at Yicksburg, 
perhaps with Sherman at Atlanta, perhaps toiling 
in the Avilderness, perhaps entering Richmond on 
that glorious morning when the Toyal host passed 
through its gates, and planted the Flag of the 
Union on its rebellions ramparts; and oh, dis- 
tressing chance of ruthless war! perhaps cut 
down on the very eve of victory, and borne 
hither to fill a grave around which the tenderest 
affections, and the most heroic memories now 
cluster. 

Can you tell me where in song or story a life 
like this, with all its emotions, has been recorded? 
Around the memory of this youth, and thousands 
such as he, gather all the gentle associations 
which soften and beautify the savagery of war. 
Histoiy has immortalized the generous and self- 
sacrificing deed of Sir Philip Sidney, as he stayed 
the hand which would moisten his own parched 
and dying lip, until the agony of his expiring 
comrade had been relieved. Shall not history 
also tell of him, whose last words were " Write to 
mother and tell her I behaved well ; " of him, 
whose glazed eye was turned upon the picture of 
his child so far awa}^, held there in his stiffening 
grasp; of him, who defiant of wounds rushed on 
to battle still, and who fell at last with this mes- 
sage on his lips — " Tell my father I was dressing 
my line when T was hit; " of him, who clasped 
to his heart, in its last throb, the written words 



19 

of her whom he loved; of him, who rejoiced in 
death, and only asked that he might be buried in 
his own native town; of him, who preferred 
death on the picket-line to a surrender; of the 
thousands, who, we are told, rose superior to the 
agony of the hospital, and declared, as the holy 
light irradiated their pale faces, that they could 
die without regret, for the great and sacred 
cause? Shall not all this be told as the heavenly 
voice, uttered by Christian heroes bearing to 
the battle-field all the moral obligations, and 
kind affections, and pious sentiment, and intel- 
ligent devotion of free and educated Christian 
homes? 

Such was the American soldier in the great 
conflict for freedom; and such was the inspira- 
tion he received from his relations to a Christian 
people in whose cause he fought, and for whose 
faith he fell. And, then, what a radiant atmos- 
phere of charity, and religion and humanity, was 
gathered about him, as he discharged his high 
service. The prayers which followed the Crusa- 
ders in their warlike march to the Holy Sepul- 
chre, the stern religious faith which inspired the 
hosts of Cromwell, the fires of freedom which 
lighted the path of our armies in the Revolution, 
were all cold and dull when compared with that 
fervid devotion to liberty and humanity, v>diicli 
glowed in the hearts of the loyal American 
people during the great war. What unbounded 
charities were lavished on our soldiers! Tell 
me, if you can, the town in which societies were 
not organized for their relief. Tell me, if you 



20 

can, the church in Avhich prayers were not nttered 
in their behalf. Fingers that had previously 
known no toil, labored for them incessantly. 
Female devotion, in camp, in hospital, at home, 
became a national virtue. The fact that we had 
an army in such a field, seemed to warm the 
American heart to the most generous sentiments, 
and to fill the American mind with the loftiest 
thought. When Phelps and Fremont proclaimed 
freedom as the law for all territory occupied by 
their armies; when Andrew announced that for 
personal liberty the people of Massachusetts 
would never cease to fill the ranks; when Lin- 
coln sent forth his Emancipation Proclamation, 
as the holiest object of the war; they uttered 
only the voice of the faithful, whose holy zeal 
had become the life-blood of the nation. This 
it was which silenced the unfriendly words of 
foreign powers, and won for our cause a popular 
response abroad which jealous potentates dared 
not defy. They indeed learned to respect our 
valor on the field. The work performed at 
Yicksburg, and Gettysburg, and Nashville, and 
Atlanta, taught them that Grant, and Sherman, 
and Meade, and Thomas, were generals upon 
whose military power the most warlike nation 
might rely. The guns of Farragut and Wins- 
low proclaimed our supremacy on the high seas, 
over the watery grave of the Alabama, and the 
silenced forts of New Orleans and Mobile. But 
the all-conquering force — that which robbed the 
designs of Great Britain of all popular support 
at home, — that which threw disgrace around the 



21 

efforts of Louis jCsTapoleon to plant an ally to the 
rebellion on this continent — was the devotion of 
our people to the cause of freedom and universal 
human rights, during the war. All honor then 
to our armies ! All honor to those who led us 
on to victory! But glory and honor and grati- 
tude to those who clothed the war with the robes 
of charity — to those who elevated it to the most 
humane purpose — to those who amidst the smoke 
and carnage of battle, led the American people 
on to national purity and redemption. As we 
hallow the graves of the dead, and erect monu- 
mental structures to their memory, let us not 
forget their illustrious comrades in civil life, who 
sanctified the cause for which they fell. On a 
day like this we may invoke the spirits of Abraham 
Lincoln and John A. Andrew, to bless us in our 
work, as they once blessed these dead heroes in 
theirs. On a day like this we may pay a grateful 
tribute to the great charities of the war — and 
learn that in the exercise of heroic virtues there 
is no distinction of race or sex or condition 
among the children of God. 

I congratulate this town upon the part it has 
performed once and again in the great drama of 
this age. It is the same story, I know, repeated 
so often, in the thousands of towns throughout 
the JSTorth — but none the less admirable and 
instructive. You, who sit here, have not forgot- 
ten the prompt and ready response to every call 
for men to fill up the ranks of our armies, deci- 
mated by disease and death. Year after year the 
call was made upon you, and year after year was 



22 

the same response given. I learn from your 
fiiithful and accurate historian, that your boun- 
ties were offered freely and liberally; that your 
quota Avas more than filled; that you provided 
for the families of the soldiers absent; that you 
expended more than twenty-seven thousand 
dollars in the work; and that you sent two 
hundred and forty-four soldiers into the army, 
being nine more than the town's quota. The 
private bounty and charity of the town, more- 
over, were increasing. The sons and brothers 
who were in the field, were not forgotten by the 
mothers and sisters who remained behind. And 
we are truly told that "Lexington also furnished 
one hospital nurse, Avhose services were scarcely 
surpassed by any of that class of self-sacrificing 
women, who submitted to every hardship, and 
encountered every danger, to relieve the suffer- 
ings of the patriotic defenders of our free insti- 
tutions;" one devoted and kind-hearted Ameri- 
can woman, let me add, who, having dispensed 
her charity with a liberal hand during the strug- 
gles of her own country, has devoted herself also 
to alleviating the sufierings of the wounded and 
stricken on the battle-fields of Europe, brethren 
of him to whom she had given her heart, and 
whose spirit and memory attend her in her 
heavenly service. 

There are those here who cannot forget that 
sad story that out of the number who went hence 
into battle, twenty laid down their lives in their 
country's service. On an occasion like this we 
are all reminded of their labors, their sufferings, 



23 

their death. At their graves, as the annual 
pilgrimage comes ronnd, we recall their lives, we 
remember their service, we renew our vows to 
our country, and we offer with grateful hands the 
fairest tribute which nature has provided as a 
crown to her favorite sons. "While we sympa- 
thize with the domestic sorrow which is renewed 
■every day in those sacred solitudes where their 
voices are no longer heard; — with her, whose 
daily walk is attended by the sainted form of 
that beloved son, now closer than ever to her 
heart, and crowned with perennial youth; — with 
her, whose sad pleasure it is to see each day in 
the faces of her children, the features of their 
f\ither, and to hear his voice in theirs; — with 
him, who is hastening to join that son upon 
whom he hoped to lean in the evening walk of 
life; — we rejoice and thank God for the example 
of heroism and valor which they have bequeathed 
to us and our country as a rich inheritance. 
Strew., then, their graves with flowers. Embalm 
their memories in your hearts. May the sod 
which covers them be sacred forever. And as 
the winds pass over their graves, may they bear 
to the remotest regions of our land the sacred 
story of their lives, and the beauty and signifi- 
cance of their deaths. And when the last of 
their comrades shall have gone to his rest, and 
the Grand Army shall all be mustered in heaven, 
may each returning spring take up the hallowed 
duty, and crown these mounds, to teach coming 
generations the sweet harmony which exists 
between the bountiful heart of creation, and the 



24 

life and death of her brave, and true-hearted, 
and devoted sons. 

The erection of a monumental structure to the 
memory of your fallen heroes, as a sacred object 
upon which the eyes of your children and your 
children's children to the remotest generation 
may rest, is in obedience to that natural senti- 
ment of gratitude, which has adorned the civil- 
ized world with enduring memorials of noble 
deeds and noble men. A Memorial Hall dedi- 
cated to such historic events as attend the name 
of Lexington, and adorned with appropriate 
statues and tablets, possesses an interest for the 
mind of every American citizen. To those 
generous benefactors, who have contributed so 
largely towards the erection and adornment of 
this structure, not this community alone, but the 
nation owes a debt of gratitude. And were the 
distinguished and accomplished first President of 
your Monument Association, the classic orator 
and statesman of the last generation in Massa- 
chusetts alive to-day, I am sure you would hear 
from his silver tongue an approving and encour- 
aging word for a design which in combining 
historical emblems and records, with the culture 
of books, and accommodation for the exercise of 
the rights and privileges of independent citizens, 
represents the genius as well as the kindly affec- 
tions of our people. It is not given to all to 
unite in one Memorial Hall, the memory of the 
soldiers of two great wars for progress and 
humanity. Nor did the distinguished and public- 
spirited benefactors who interested themselves to 



25 

perpetuate by enduring monument the heroic 
deeds enacted here by the revohitionary fathers, 
anticipate such a fortunate combination as this. 
JSTow, indeed, may the humblest student sitting 
within this sacred hall, remember that for the 
freedom of thought which gives an inestimable 
value to the volnme in his hands, the youthful 
blood of two generations of men in this town 
has been freely shed. As he turns with pride to 
the history of his country and learns there the 
great virtues and the social and civil principles, 
which make a people truly powerful, contem- 
plating also with pride the statues of the illus- 
trious^ men who practiced these virtues in the 
beginning, and fixed these principles, he can turn 
then to the tablets which adorn these walls, and 
learn the price which you have paid for the 
preservation of the blessed institutions trans- 
mitted to us by the fathers. I have stood 
beneath the triumphal arches, which have told 
for ages the story of ancient warriors, and have 
sorrowfully studied on those tablets, the mournful 
processions of drooping ca[)tives. I have paused 
in the great halls designed for the repose of 
veterans of the Grand Army of ]!^apoleon, or 
for the naval heroes of the mistress of the seas. 
I have lingered in the shadow of the ])roud 
column which records the imperial triumphs of 
personal ambition; but in all the significance, in 
all the associations, which give true value to the 
memorial of great events, they were low and 
mean, when compared with this structure, which 
invites an intelligent people within its walls, and 



26 

perpetuates the memory of a war fonght for 
fi-eedom and the elevation of mankind. Let it 
be nnderstood hereafter that the triumphs of the 
American sword mean the advancement of reli- 
gion and education. 

Turning now, my friends, from the glorious 
i-ecoi'd of the past, and pausing reverently before 
the memorials of American heroism and devotion 
which you this day dedicate, let ns consider, for 
a moment, what we have accomplished for onr- 
selvcs and for mankird by our great wars. For 
ourselves, by the revolution, an independent 
nationality, built upon such foundations that a 
great civil convulsion was not only tolerable, but 
promotive of all the progi'cssive design which 
lay close to the hearts of our fathers. The revo- 
lutionary war, small in all its proportions, secured 
to mankind the first opportunity for a free repub- 
lic, as the result of natural development, and not 
of violence or convulsion. The great war for 
the Union not only confirmed our nationality, 
but I'cvealed its true proportions, purified it, 
brought it back to the sublime object of its 
founders, taught the woi'ld to respect its skill 
and valor in conflict on land and on sea, and to 
admire its devotion to the broadest doctrines of 
human rights as the foundation of good govern- 
ment. Our first step won the admii*ation of the 
thoughtful — our last won the respect of the 
arroii-ant and the thoughtless. In less than a 
century we have risen from colonial feebleness, 
to a commanding national presence, an empire, 
the only one known in history which foreign foe 



27 

has never vanquished, and which a great civil 
strife has merely purified and strengthened. 
History records that each succeeding step m 
the work has been honoi'able; — but of the last 
great conflict, its magnitude and its results are 
so amazing, that even now it seems to us as if it 
must have been a dream. Covering an extent 
of territory as broad as all Europe; calling into 
the field larger bodies of armed men, than any 
similar event of modern times; conducted upon 
a scale of operations unknown before, and in 
accordance with the breadth of our possessions, 
and the activity and normal condition of our 
citizen soldiery; complicated with difficult polit- 
ical questions at home, and still more difficult 
problems abroad; it constitutes a chapter in 
history upon which the student will always linger 
with amazement and romantic interest. In the 
sudden and rapid development of military genius; 
in the organization of great armies; in the rapid- 
ity of evolution; in the extent of its operations; 
in the improvement of all the enginery of war; 
in the social revolution; and in the solution of 
constitutional questions which had long existed 
between the states and the general government; 
— the work of a century was accomplished dur- 
ing the four years' conflict. Such a tremendous 
struggle could not but result either in great good 
or great evil. As the flood swept on, it became 
manifest that it must act as an agent of destruc- 
tion, unless it left in its path the fertilizing 
deposit, as the bed of a new and more luxuriant 
harvest. That it preserved the best government 



28 

ever instituted b}'^ man, would seem to be a suffi- 
cient answer to any candid mind, which would 
fairly estimate its consequences. That it swept 
away a great social wrong, and purged the Con- 
stitution and the statute-book of all complicity 
with that w'rong, is a still more satisfjictory 
consideration. That this is the accepted ftiith of 
the American jDCople, I cannot for a moment 
doubt. Looking back over the history of the 
past, they have learned to respect the power of 
our government, and to admire and adore its 
spirit. The guardian now of every citizen, it 
stretches forth its hands for the protection of all 
against injustice and wrong under every form, 
offering education in the one, and the ballot in 
the other, as the sure foundations of social and 
civil equality and fi'eedom, and national pros- 
perity and strength. 

Fortunately for ourselves, and as I think for 
the prospects of republican freedom everywhere, 
we stand no longer as a rival or a dependent 
among the nations of the earth, but as an ally 
and equal for all who are advancing towards free 
institutions; as a rebuke to despotism every- 
where. Recognizing the necessity and the des- 
tiny, that our institutions must one day cover 
this entire continent, not by conquest, but by the 
peaceful adoption of free and aspiring people; 
remembering that " the Continental Congress, 
by solemn resolution invited Canada, and then 
appointed a commission with Benjamin Franklin 
at its head, to form a union between the colo- 
nies and the people of Canada; " remembering 



too the expression of Congress to these people, 
" that their mterests and ours are inseparably 
united ;" remembering, also, the written declara- 
tion of Richard Cobden to Charles Sumner more 
than twenty years ago, that " nature has decided 
that Canada and the United States must become 
one for all purposes of inter-communication; " 
and remembering, moreover, the broad and 
statesmanlike assertion of Mr. Sumner that, " the 
United States can never be indifferent to Canada, 
nor to the other British ]3rovinces, near neighbors 
and kindred; " I anticipate the time when the 
American flag shall protect the American citi- 
zen, on all lands and seas, from the Fi-ozen ocean 
to the Isthmus, as a reward for that manly asser- 
tion and endeavor, which have taught foreign 
powers the strength of republican institutions to 
preserve themselves from overthrow, and to exer- 
cise an imperial sway, wdien necessary, without 
the exercise of despotic powers. We are now 
wise enough to " ask for nothing but what is 
right; " and we are powerful enough "to submit 
to nothing which is wrong." Composed of all 
nationalities, we would sympathize with all in 
their endeavors after freedom and education. 
To a united German Eepublic, advancing we 
trust to her place among the nations, we extend 
a cordial hand. To convulsed, and bleeding, and 
betrayed France, we present the calm power 
of our own republic, and the " moderation and 
wisdom that tempered our Kevolution," in which 
her own great son learned his first lesson, and 
performed his first noble service. For Ireland 



30 

we offer our fervent prayers; — and to England 
we extend our Avarning voice, that she may learn 
justice and honor ere it is too late. 

Our revolutionary fathers heard in the British 
Parliament the appeals of Edmund Burke for 
conciliation and peace with the colonies; they lis- 
tened to the thunders of Chatham when he rejoiced 
" that America had resisted; " they were cheered 
by the burning words of Barre as he protested 
against the oppressive acts of the ministry 
towards their brethren in America. We do not 
forget the fountains of our republican thought — 
the genius of Milton, the doctrines of the Puri- 
tans, the assertions of Magna Charta. We speak 
the language of Shakspeare, and Milton, and 
Bacon, and Kewton. We study with reverent 
interest that scene of the Pilgrim embarkation in 
the Potunda of the American Capitol; and we 
pass beneath the same scene in the corridors of 
the Parliament House in England, the most con- 
spicuous of all the national frescoes there. 

We have not yet forgotten, I trust, the warm as- 
surances of sympathy, during our civil war, from 
John Bright, and Thomas Hughes, and Newman 
Hall. AYe know well that the liberal heart of 
England and the freedom-loving heart of Amer- 
ica beat in unison. But we cannot shut our eyes 
to the other side — that side full of insult and 
wrong, in which England from the days of the 
Boston Poi't Bill, down to the ravages of the 
Alabama has ahvays been the aggressor. The 
flings of her statesmen against what they have 
seen fit to call " an unbalanced democracy " here; 



31 

the contempt of her scholars for American 
thought, until Hawthorne, and Longfellow and 
Emerson conquered their prejudices; her aggres- 
sive acts towards our commerce and our fisheries ; 
her swift recognition of rebel belligerency; her 
chronic antagonisms to American nationality, — 
have inflicted a wound on the national heart not 
easily healed. But now let the quarrels between 
the mother and the daughter cease; and let them 
join in one great civilizing mission. While the 
United States have eai-ned the power to call for 
instant redress for wrongs inflicted upon them- 
selves, they have also earned the right to protest 
against acts of injustice towards others, and to 
encourage all the popular aspirations which have 
been excited by the success of their own free 
institutions. 

Will not England learn her lesson, the lesson 
taught her by her child, wdiom she sent forth 
from her home, two centuries and a half ago? 
Can she resist forever the demands for free 
education, the ballot, equal inheritance, and 
division of land? Will nothing but impending 
ruin induce her to lift her heavy hand from Ire- 
land, and allow her people to rise to the full 
stature of elevated and prosperous humanity? 
Will she never learn that the example set by 
a young, free, busy, prosperous and jjowerful 
nation is worth stud3ang, and that a peaceful 
alliance with a republic holding in its hands the 
great highway from ocean to ocean, possesses 
commercial advantages, which are as valuable at 



32 

least as uneasy and unproductive colonial jDosses- 
sions? 

From the 19th of April, 1775, to the 19th 
of April, 1871, the great American Republic 
has been advancing "from strength to strength," 
working out the problem submitted to her, when 
she entered the family of nations. Fi'om first to 
last, what has she not done to awaken popular 
thought, to instruct the wise, to inspire the 
brave? The inevitable centre, hereafter, of the 
great commercial enterprises of the world, it is 
her system of government, her form of civiliza- 
tion, and, I trust, her national honor and honesty, 
which are to be an example for all men. And 
when the two nations which separated on that 
" glorious morning," on the green of Lexington, 
shall join hands again, the signal Avill be given 
for international honor, and peace, and arbitra- 
tion, and justice, to take the place of jealousy, 
and wrong, and injustice, and confusion, and 
war. The lesson, which, in all our strange expe- 
riences and vicissitudes, we have taught ourselves 
and others, may never be forgotten. And with 
hearts filled with gratitude to God, who hath 
given us the victory, and so protected our 
country that we can proudly call around us the 
heroic memories of two great wars, on this 
historic day, may Ave renew our vows to be true 
to our great inheritance, and to transmit it in all 
its glory to our children, for the beauty of the 
whole earth. 



PROCEEDINGS 

AT THK 

|l(;dication of ih^ |^oiiin and j||cmoi;iaI jjinll, 

J J J •'■^ 

LEXINGTON, MASS. 
APRIL 19, 1871. 



At the annual town meeting held in March, 1871, the 
Building Committee of the New Town Memorial and 
Library Halls Building reported the work nearl}' completed 
and ready for delivery to the town. It was voted that the 
Building be dedicated with appropriate ceremonies on the 
19th of April, being the ninety-sixth anniversary of the 
battle of Lexington, and a committee of eight citizens, to 
be joined to the members of the Building Conunittee, were 
constituted a Committee of Arrangements with discretion- 
ary powers to carry out the vote, and an appropriation of 
a sum not exceeding three hundred dollars was made. 
The Committee of Arrangements was organized with the 
following gentlemen as members thereof, viz : — 

Of the Building Committee : — Messrs. Charles Hud- 
son, John Hastings, Sargent C. Whicher, Hammon Reed, 
Luke C. Childs, Warren E. Russell, and Reuben W. Reed. 

Of other citizens joined : — Messrs. George W. Robin- 
son, Joseph N. Brewer, George Munroe, Matthew H. 



34 

Merriam, Oliver P. Mills, Alonzo Goddard, Charles E. 
■ Goodwin, and Charles Blodgett ; to whom the following 
gentlemen were added by the Committee, namely : — Loring 
W. Muzzey, Charles M. Parker, George L. Stratton, 
George E. Muzzey, and Frederic Witherell. 

At the same meeting it was considered appropriate that 
the formalities of receivinsr the kevs from the Building 
Committee, should be tendered the young men of the 
town, as significant of the prospective provision, kept 
prominently in view in the design and erection of the 
building, for the wants and privileges of those who are to 
come after and succeed the passing generation. 

In accordance with this spirit, ^Messrs. James E. Parker, 
Billings Smith, jr., Eugene Tuttle, and Charles S. 
Blodgett, were appointed a Representative Committee to 
receive the keys, as the emblems of the trust confided to 
them. 

An enthusiastic interest prevailed in the community for 
the creditable success of the contemplated ceremonies, 
enhanced by a spirit of jiatriotisni and grateful remem- 
brance of sacrifices in \var, which were on this occasion to 
be formally expressed in the consecration of the jMemorial 
Hall. Citizens responded liberally by placing at the dis- 
posal of the Committee necessary funds for the execution 
of their plans. 

The morning of the 19th of April dawned auspiciously. 
The Hall, the old Monument, and many private residences, 
were gaily decked with the national colors, appropriate 
mottoes and emblems. The inauguration of the festivities 
of the day was announced by a salute of artillery at sun- 
rise, which was repeated at noon and at sunset. At eleven 



o'clock the procession was formed on the ground in front of 
the raih'oad depot, in the following order : — 

Germania Band, 20 pieces, conducted by A. Heinicke. 

Col. John W. Hudson, Chief Marshal. 

Assistant Marshal, Lieut. Jarvis W. Dean. 

Detachment of Maiden Battery, Lieut. W. B. Patterson, 

Commanding. 

Hancock Engine Company. 

Assistant Marshal, Lieut. George E. Muzzey. 

Public Schools of the Town, about two hundred children in all. 

Assistant Marshal, Lieut. Samuel E. Chandler. 

Committee of Arrangements and Building Committee. 

Committee of Young Men. 

President of the Day, Orator and Chaplain. 

Distinguished Civilians. 

Clergymen of Lexingt.n. 

Other Civic Guests. 

Assistant Marshal, Major Jonas F. Capelle. 

Officers of the United States Army 

Lieut. Col. John G. Chandler and Capt. Lewis E, Crone. 

Soldiers of the War of 1812. 

Officers and Soldiers of the last War, from Lexington, together 

with those from other places, now resident in the Town. 

Assistant Marshal, Capt. William Plummer. 

Town Officers. 

Citizens generally. 

The route of the procession was from the place of form- 
ing, up Main and Monument streets, around the Common, 
and thence to the Hall. 

After a voluntary by the band the Chief Marshal intro- 
duced Asa Cotteell, Esq,, President of the day, who on 



36 

assuming the duties of the place, addressed the audience as 
follows : 

ADDRESS OF ASA COTTRELL, ESQ. 

" Ladies and Gentlemen : 

" The returning year has again brought around the 
yernal season, and the day on which, ninety-six years ago, 
the brave men whose lineal descendants are among those 
here present, stood and offered the first resistance to the 
scarlet-coated soldiery of Britain, on the soil of this very 
town, then bearing the same name which it bears now, and 
that name was rendered, then and there, by their deeds, 
historical and immortal. 

"Yes, that name Lexington stirs the spirit of every 
true American as the sound of a trumpet ; it is associated 
forever with the early history of the heroic age of that 
people, who now stand foremost in the march of empire, 
of freedom, of civilization, and of progress. And here on 
this peaceful day, in this jieaceful time, having recently 
passed through the great crisis which so long threatened to 
blast the hopes of our ancestors, and of good men eveiy- 
where, we, citizens of" Lexington and of the United States, 
no longer drenched in fraternal blood, and far from the din 
of carnage and sights of horror, whose echo and whose 
shadow beyond the broad ocean contrast with our own 
sense of preservation, and solid ground of security and 
rejoicing; we, hopeful, and with reason, of our country's 
glory and its future, are to-day gathered. 

" We are assembled here for a happy cause and for a 
worthy purpose. An event, slight perhaps in itself, slight 
by comparison with the fall of empires, or the conquests of 
kings ; but yet pleasant as a symbol of peace and the 
success of democratic government, has summoned and 
collected us here. Tiiat event is the completion of this Hall. 
It is a mark of the growth of the town, and an important 



37 

epoch in its history. It is a sign that a republican system 
of government, by the people for themselves, is not falling 
into disrepute or deterioration. 

" We are here to honor the occasion with some fitting 
ceremonial. We are here in the presence of each other, 
our townsmen, their wives, their families and friends 
collectively, to look with our own eyes on this proof of 
progress and advance. 

"The town hall, the church and the school-house, are to 
be seen and have long been visible, on every hill, and in 
every valley in New England. These, far more than the 
lines of railway and their station-houses and depots ; more 
even than the wonderful wire-work over which the light- 
ning, as man's slave, bears the latest intelligence of all 
that has most recently passed on this planet ; far more 
even than the thriving farm and substantial farm-house, or 
the ornamental villa ; far more than the myriad manufac- 
tories, many windowed and storied ; fiir more than the 
crowded and lofty warehouses of yonder city, each one of 
which is a princely fortune ; far more than the thick clus- 
tering masts of the shipping about its wharves ; far more 
than our universities, our parks, our opera houses, our 
hotels ; moi-e than all these, the village town-house, now 
massive and substantial ; the airy school-house, not devoid 
of architectural pretensions, that has taken the place of the 
primitive single-roomed log-cabin in the midst of the forest ; 
and the heaven-pointing spires in every hamlet and borough, 
indicate the spirit of our age and nation : these are the true 
exponents of the character and intelligence of our people : 
these are the jewels of our country : these show our manner 
of living and our life : these tell to all, the way in which 
the descendants of the pilgrims aim to secure and enjoy the 
highest possible blessings of human existence — libertv, 
knowledge, and virtue. 

"Here shall the men, and perhaps the women, come to 
determine what shall be the laws, and who shall make and 



38 

administer them, with the power to change both the laws 
and the law ministers, at their own sovereijjn will and 
pleasure. The state-house, and the court-house and the . 
prison, have no terrors to us, while we con tern j)late this 
structure — for if oppression and injustice emanate from or 
await us there — here we will come and within these walls, 
by our votes, abolish or change them. 

"These new and numerous, and fair but not mao-nificent 
or extravagant edifices, are the best sign of the general 
welfare. Gorgeous cathedrals, royal palaces and massive 
pyramids, conjure up memories of the munificence of des- 
potism ; but wide-spread and universal comfort, and not 
isolated grandeur, is the harvest we and our fathers have 
sowed and cultivate. The monuments of our national 
glory, are our improvements in every thing that increases 
the intelligence and happiness of the general people, dimin- 
ishes pain and suffering, elevates the dignity of man, and 
enlarges enlightened and safe freedom for the whole. And 
therefore, with devout and grateful hearts, we are assem- 
bled to receive this Building from those intrusted with the 
task of erecting and completing it, and to render our 
acknowledgments for the zeal, energy and fidelity with 
which their commission has been executed. 

" As on yonder Common, stands the Monument of Lex- 
ington's early heroes, here to-day, we hail the emblem of 
the true meaning and value of their immortal labors. 
Here, when the citizens shall from time to time meet 
together, these tablets, trophies, statues and mementoes, 
and the associations clustering about them, will renew their 
patriotism, and increase their love of country. If civil 
discord has so recently nearly shattered the edifice of our 
national greatness and safety, never may this Hall, while 
that memory lasts, jar Avith selfish and sectional hate and 
strife. Here let local and partizan jealousy have no room ; 
let the genius of the place prohibit it ; let the name of 
Lexinjifton be associated with Concord. 



39 

"This Building owes its erection in part, as you know, 
to private and patriotic bounty, which demands, and will 
never fail to receive with us, due acknowledgment, and the 
best meed of being understood and appreciated. This Hall 
is not only for us, but for those who are to come after us, 
and fill the places that we now fill. To the young men of 
this town, this noble edifice is to be this day committed. 
They are to maintain it in the future, and hence they for- 
mally receive it, and become its sponsors. Let them, then, 
regard it as a sacred legacy, and honor it as such, cherish- 
ing the suggestions and monitions of the wise and eloquent 
men who are present to address them, for to them we look, 
to perpetuate all those glorious associations that now cluster 
around and hallow it. 

" Ladles and Gentlemen : 

" This Hall having been completed to the acceptance of 
the gentlemen who were appointed to superintend its erec- 
tion, it remains for them to submit to their constituents the 
result of their labors, and formally vest it in the authori- 
ties of the town. The Committee now desire to attend to 
that duty by their chairman. 

" Let me invite your attention to a gentleman, who, for 
a score of his best years, with great ability and zeal, has 
devoted himself to your progress and material advance- 
ment. Any words of commendation I might attempt to 
offer, would fall so far short of the meed of praise your 
own thoughts would suggest, that they would rather detract 
from than add to his conceded merits. 

" Allow me to introduce to you the Hon. Charles 
Hudson, Chairman of the Building Committee." 

Mr. Hudson, in behalf of the Building Committee, 
tendered the keys to the Committee of Young Men, with 
the followiuor address : 



40 

ADDRESS OF HON. CHARLES HUDSON, 
" Mr. Chairman : 

" The committee intrusted with the important duty of 
erecting a public edifice to meet the wants of the town, 
present and prospective, congratulate you and themselves 
that the object of their appointment is so far accomplished 
that they can with propriety submit their work to their con- 
stituents, and respectfully ask to be discharged from any 
further substantive labor on the subject. 

"The committee, from their first appointment, have felt 
that they assumed a high responsibility in urging their fel- 
low citizens to embark in an enterprise which would impose 
upon the town a heavy pecuniary burden ; and though we 
were aware of the wants of the place, we should have 
deemed it prudent to defer action on the subject till the 
town had reduced its outstanding debt ; but for the liberal 
offer of a native of Lexington, a worthy and patriotic lady 
of whom we may justly be proud. Mrs. Maria Gary, of 
Brooklyn, N. Y., moved by a generous regard for the place 
of her nativity, offered to the town six thousand dollars on 
condition that we should erect an edifice which would nieet 
the wants of the public, and at the same time furnish a 
Memorial Hall in honor of our departed patriots, and a 
suitable room for the Free Library, which she had partially 
endowed. And though at the time of our meeting, when 
the vote to build was taken, she was traveling in a foreign 
land, we were persuaded that distance would not alienate 
nor the wide Atlantic quench her regard for her native town ; 
and that a manly effort and a generous trust on our part, 
would secure to us further aid. And in this we were not 
disappointed. For our generous benefactress has enlarged 
her donation to twenty thousand dollars — four thousand for 
the INIemorial Hall, six thousand for the Library, and ten 
thousand for the edifice itself. With these benefactions for 
such worthy objects, the town of Lexington can well afford 
to contract a debt. 



41 

" In the construction of the Building we have endeavored 
to meet the present and future wants of the town, rather 
tlian to provide rooms to rent. The general design of the 
committee, modified and molded by the skill and taste of 
the arcliitect, has been adopted ; and the execution of the 
plan carried out by the art and the untiring fidelity of the 
contractors has given us an edifice of which we may justly 
be proud. The division we have made of the interior may 
require a brief explanation. We have sometimes been told 
that our Library Hall was too large. But we have fondly 
looked forward to a time when not only the increase of 
books will require more room, but when the wants of the 
people will demand a reading room, and their taste a cabi- 
net of historic relics, and a collection of specimens illustra- 
tive of the arts and sciences, and when the walls may be 
adorned with portraits and paintings. 

" Our Memorial Hall requires a passing notice. Though 
its conception is original, we are not ashamed of its design. 
It is consecrated to the memory of the departed, and its 
emblems illustrate their patriotism, and show our gratitude. 
Our statues, we regret to say, are not comj)leted, but will 
be in a few months. As you approach the Memorial Hall 
from the front entrance, you will, when these statues are in 
position, see in the niche nearly in front of you on the left, 
a life-sized marble statue of a soldier of 1775 — a minute- 
man, leaving his plough and seizing his musket and 
powder-horn at the call of his country, and with a counte- 
nance which bespeaks firmness of purpose and trust in the 
Lord of Hosts, standing forth to resist aggression, and, if 
need be, sacrifice his life in the cause of freedom. On his 
rio-ht is a marble tablet, bearing the names of the gallant 
men of Lexington who fell on the memorable 10th of April, 
1775, fulfilling the pledge previously given, that they would 
be faithful unto death. 

" In the niche, nearly in front of you on the right, stands 
a marble statue, representing the class of men who rallied 



42 

under the flag of the Union, when treason raised its impious 
hand against our country ; and on his left you can read the 
names of the devoted men of the Lexington quota, who 
perished in defence of our liberties. We recognize them as 
our late neighbors, friends, and protectors, apparently retir- 
ing from the field after they had performed their whole duty. 
They seem to us a reserved corps of freedom's ardent vota- 
ries, watchfully reposing upon their arms to guard the 
interests of the Republic. We are awed in their presence ; 
and with grateful emotion silently breathe forth the bene- 
diction : — 

" ' Rest, patriot soldiers ! be your names revered ; 
Your valor shielded what our fathers reared.' 

" But facing these statues are two empty niches, anxiously 
waiting to be filled by the statues of two illustrious men of 
the Revolution, endeared to the whole country, and particu- 
larly identified with Lexington, and the day we celebrate. 
When one of these niches is filled Avith a statue of the first 
signer of the Declaration of Independence, whose name on 
that immortal instrument stands out in bold relief, showing 
at once his patriotism arid his penmanship ; and the other is 
filled with that of the sturdy patriot who organized the 
American Revolution, and who, when he heard the report of 
the British guns on Lexington Common on the 19th of 
April, '75, exclaimed in prophetic rapture, ' What a glorious 
morning for America is this ! ' then we shall have a Memo- 
rial Hall worthy of the birth-place of American liberty, 
and shall have done something to perpetuate the memory 
of John Hancock and Samuel Adams, two of 

" ' The few immortal names 
That were not born to die.' 

" And these niches must be filled. The friends of these 
distinguished statesmen and patriots ask it ; the public 
voice demands that it be done. Thus far we have been 



43 

mostly dependent upon female generosity. Not only Mrs. 
Gary, but Mrs. Samuel B. Rindge, of Cambridge, a native 
of Lexington, has substantially erected one of our statues, 
and Mrs. Ebenezer Sutton, of Peabody, has made us a 
liberal gift toward filling the vacant niches. Such exam- 
ples should excite the gentlemen to action, and so furnish us 
with the needed funds. 

" Mr. Chairman, we have already said that, in erecting 
this edifice, we have looked forward to the future growth of 
the town. We have built it not so much for ourselves as 
for those that come after us — for our children and our 
children's children. Impressed with this view, the town 
has done well in selecting a committee of young men to 
receive the hall in her name. You, young gentlemen, have 
been made the honored agents to represent not only the 
Lexington of to-day, but the Lexington that is to be. You 
stand as an intermediate link between us and posterity. It 
is with peculiar pleasure, therefore, that we pass this Build- 
ing over to you, who, according to the course of nature, 
will enjoy it when we shall have passed off the stage. 
Here you will assemble for the transaction of public busi- 
ness. In this Hall you will convene to hear public lectures, 
to interchange kind offices, to join in social gatherings, and 
to partake of such innocent amusements as are calculated 
to dispel gloom, and give that variety which has been 
denominated the spice of life. But you must remember 
that this Hall is not the entire building, nor is this edifice 
the only thing committed to your care. There are institu- 
tions connected with it, more valuable than the brick and 
mortar of which its walls are composed. The Memorial 
Hall embodies the spirit of patriotism which made, and 
still preserves us a free people ; and the Library Hall is 
but the portal to that field pf knowledge on which per-sonal 
enjoyment and public prosperity must depend. These 
institutions you will fondly cherish. To you, young men, 
we look with confidence, that you will exert your influence 



44 

to fill the niches in the one hall, and the shelves in the 
other, so that patriotism may be chastened with knowledge, 
and that both may combine to make us an enlightened, 
free and prosperous community. But the time-piece behind 
me, tiiat faithful monitor, the gift of one of our prominent 
citizens,* admonishes me to draw my remarks to a close- 
I bow to the admonition, and will deliver to you these keys 
as emblematic of this edifice and the institutions it embo- 
soms, with an ardent hope and a firm belief that these 
great interests will be cherished, and that what is committed 
to you will be handed down unimpaired to those that shall 
come after you." 

Mr. James E. Parker, in behalf of the Committee of 
Young Men, responded as follows : 

ADDRESS OF JAMES E. PARKER, ESQ. 

" Mr. Chairman : — 

" On behalf of the town of Lexington, more particularly 
the young men of the town, whom I have the honor to 
represent, I receive these keys from your hands, believing 
that the mechanical execution of the work has been thor- 
ough and complete, and that great credit is due the con- 
tractors for the faithful discharge of their duties. It also 
becomes my pleasant duty to express to you, sir, personally, 
and to your colleagues on the Building Committee, the 
sense of obligation which the people of the town feel 
toward you for the untiring exertions which you have made 
that this structure might be what it is, a credit to the town, 
and perhaps no unworthy memorial of those brave men 
who struggled not far from here, ninety-six years ago to- 
day, and of those equally brave men wlio, later, (in the 
language of the lamented Lincoln,) gave up their lives that 
the nation migiit live, and whose bones, in many instances, 

* George W. Robinson, Esq. 



45 

still rest in that ' sacred ' Southern soil, sacred indeed, 
now that they have consecrated it with their blood." 

The dedicatory prayer was then offered by Rev. A. B. 
MuzzEY, Chaplain of the day. After which the President 
of the day introduced Dr. George B. Loring, who deliv- 
ered the eloquent oration which has been kindly furnished 
us for publication. 

At the close of the oration, after music by the band, the 
following original hymn, composed for this occasion by 
Mrs. C. A. Means, was sung by the assembly. 

Our fathers, true and brave, 
Here gave their lives, to save 

Our land so dear ; 
God, whom they loved, their shield ; 
Their watch-word, " Die, uot yield," 
On mauy a well fought field, 

They kuew no fear. 

Once more at Freedom's call, 
Sons left their homes to fall, 

No more to rise ; 
AVorthy their fathers' fame, 
We hold each honored name, 
And praise with loud acclaim 

And tear-dimmed eyes. 

Thank God, the strife is o'er; 
Peace crowns our land once more 

With heavenly light ; 
These walls shall proudly tell 
How those we loved so well, 
For their dear country fell 

In deadly fight. 



46 

Long may the arts of peace 
Bid strife aud tumult cease, 

'Neath Learning's sway ; 
"While wisdom rules our land, 
Firm as a rock we'll stand, 
Held by that mighty Hand 

Which guards our way. 



This closed the exercises at the Hall, and the company 
proceeded to the Eailroad depot, which had been tastily 
fitted up for the dinner. The tables were bountifully sup- 
plied, and were served to about four hundred persons. 

The Divine blessing was invoked by the Rev. Chaplain. 
After dinner, the President began the intellectual feast 
in saying : 

" Ladies and Geyitlemen : 

"I feel that I should leave an important duty unfulfilled, 
if I did not, before vacating this chair, in behalf of the 
Committee of Arrangements and the citizens of this town 
generally, say a word of welcome to the gallant men 
who to-day represent the defenders of our most cherished 
rights. 

"Just ten years ago to-day, some of you, whom I now 
have the honor to address, were marching to the defence of 
our common country. Just ten years ago, Massachusetts' 
good Governor, the ever blessed Andrew, sent forth upon 
the wings of the lightning, to the yeomanry of old Middlesex, 
that the nation's capital was in danger, and the nation's 
life threatened ; when, as the wand of the magician brings 
forth from hidden springs the wonders of his art, up 
sprang the men of Middlesex, ready to maintain the right, 
and strike the first blow to protect the liberties their 
fathers struck the first blow to secure. Worthy sons of 



47 

heroic sires, welcome, thrice welcome, to this our festive 
gathering. 

" And I am sure I could not render a more acceptable 
service to my fellow citizens assembled to-day, than to 
return their acknowledgments to the distinguished guests 
who have honored the occasion by their presence, and 
especially their thanks to the distinguished orator, whose 
unrivalled wisdom and eloquence have so instructed and 
charmed us. 

" The happy events of this day will be long cherished by 
our citizens ; esteeming it, however, but an interlude or 
introduction to the sublime spectacle, of the nation wor- 
shiping at the shrine of liberty on the 19th of April, 
1875 — believing that the nation's best and noblest men 
will make a pilgrimage to that spot, which was a field of 
blood in 1775, but which, in 1875, shall be a field of 
glory. 

" And now permit me to introduce, as the toast-master 
for the occasion, a gentleman whom Lexington loves to 
honor — born amid the rugged hills of New England, a 
soldier on the plains of Mexico, a citizen true and loyal on 
the patriotic soil of Lexington — though absent from us for 
a season, we shall presently see that his absence has not 
diminished his patriotism, or abated his zeal in advocating 
universal freedom — I have the honor to introduce to you 
Colonel Isaac H. Wright. 

Colonel Wright proceeded to the duties assigned him 
in these words of welcome and congratulation. 

ADDRESS OF COLONEL ISAAC H. WRIGHT. 

" Ladies and Gentlemen : 

"With little or no time for reflection and preparation, I 
have again revisited your ancient town upon the call of 
your Committee of Arrangements, to officiate as Toast- 



48 

Master at this most interesting festival. In default of time 
for pre-arranged and digested thought, I must trust to the 
inspiration of the occasion, and to your generous indul- 
gence, for whatever of acceptance my impromptu labors 
may meet with at your hands. 

"The President of the Day has imposed a heavy weight 
of obligation upon me, by the very complimentary terms in 
which he has presented me to this company, and in fact has 
left me but one course to pursue, in the absence of all hope 
on my part to realize the very exalted anticipations which 
his words would excite. And that course is, to put in a 
disclaimer, which I now do, against all and singular, the 
commendations with which he has so lavishly invested me. 
There being then a tacit convention that my friend Cott- 
rell's high-wrought eulogium shall not be brought up in 
judgment against my short-comings, I may be permitted to 
say that whatever of justice and truth there may be in his 
remarks is properly attributable, in part at least, to circum- 
stances which transpired in former days while I was a resi- 
dent of Lexington. 

" It will be remembered by many who now hear me, that 
many years ago, when that distinguished apostle of universal 
liberty, Louis Kossuth, made a pilgrimage to this town 
to do reverence at the shrine of the Massachusetts martyrs 
to American liberty, I had the honor to receive and intro- 
duce to the citizens of Lexington, that eminent scholar and 
enlightened patriot, from whose eloquent lips we heard 
with delight the avowal of those doctrines of universal 
political freedom, of whicli he was at once the exponent 
and the martyr. Upon that occasion and some others of a 
kindred public character, I had the pleasure, while a citizen 
of the town, of being identified in some humble capacity 
with the patriotic demonstrations of the people ; and I am 
willing to attribute to a grateful appreciation of my labors 
in that behalf, any small share of the comn)cndations of 
your President which I may justly appropriate to myself. 



49 

" Lexington has done much in the past by her influence 
and example, to establish and uphold the cause of liberty 
and humanity. When, on the 19th of April, 1775, she 
was called upon to offer up her sons as a barrier to stay the 
triumphal march of the invading host, by that distinguished 
destiny a seal was set upon her brow ; she was consecrated 
to Freedom's holy cause by a baptism of blood, and from 
that day forth a high and solemn mission devolved upon her. 
And well has she fulfilled that mission ! Faithfully by her 
public schools, and her town-meetings — those infant schools 
of Republics — has she inculcated and cherished that enlight- 
ened and discriminating love of liberty, upon which the 
experiment of popular self-government was successfully 
founded in this country, almost a century ago. Freely has 
she sent forth her sons to do battle for the country on every 
field and on every ocean where the old Pine-Tree flag or 
the Stars and Stripes have heralded the battle for liberty or 
constitutional law. Generously has she poured forth her 
means to succor and sustain the wounded, and the Avidows 
and orphans of the honored dead. To-day, on this proud 
anniversary, her sons and daughters gather together in 
magnificent ari^ay to dedicate a noble Memorial Hall ; a 
monument of patriotism replete with beauty, and crowned 
with usefulness. 

" The past, then, at least is secure ; the people of Lexing- 
ton have thus far faithfully chei-ished her ancient fame, and 
kept alive within her bounds the fires of liberty. Nor do I 
doubt that in the time to come, the sons and daughters of 
this time-honored town will emulate the noble example of 
those who have gone before them, and by their patriotism 
and public spirit in all emergencies, whether of war or 
peace, fully meet the high expectations founded on a past 
so glorious. When I look around upon the earnest and 
intelligent faces that grace this festive board ; when I con- 
sider the patriotic character of the large assembly which 
has this day crowded yonder beautiful Memorial Hall, and 



50 

the deep and earnest attention with which the orator's elo- 
quent and fitting address was listened to by all ; I see an 
ample guarantee that Lexington will ever be true to her 
ancient fame, and that her sons and daughters will never 
fail to emulate the virtues of their predecessors. 

" Let me now bespeak your attention to the Regular Toasts, 
as I shall announce them, and to the responses of the eloquent 
gentlemen whom I shall call upon to answer thereto." 

First regular toast : 
The President of the United States. 

Response by the Band, "Hail Columbia," and cheers 
for the President. 

Second regular toast : 

2'he Governor of the Commonwealth — Illustrious iu an illus- 
trious line of succession of leaders that have steadily mar- 
ehalled the State iu the foremost rank. 

Response by General S. E. Chamberlain of the Gov- 
ernor's staff, who gave some interesting reminiscences of 
the sons of Lexington in the late war. 

Third regular toast : 

The Army and Navy — Their recent exploits in war, by sea 
aud laud, demonstrate that the fathers inspired the sous and 
prompted them to noble deeds and heroic suffering. 

Response by the Band, " Star Spangled Banner." 

Fourth regular toast : 

The Nation in 1783 — in 1871 — The infant Hercules in the 
cradle, and the resistless champion of right and justice. 

Ex-Governor Walter Harriman, of New Hampshire, 
responded as follows : 

In the brief moment allotted to me, of course, I can do no 
more than barely to glance at a theme like this : — The infant 
Hercules in the cradle, aud the resistless champion of right 
aud justice ! What emotious this sentiment awakens ! What 



51 

patriotic fervor it inspires ! What national grandeur it brinc^s 
to the foreground ! 

Look at our country to-day. What variety of soil, of cli- 
mate, of production. Material riches are poured, with unstinted 
prodigality, at our feet. The "horn of plenty" is no fable. 
Everywhere we find the full stream of its bounty. And all this 
is free to our hand. No Chinese wall invests this country. It 
opens its doors wide to the down-trodden and the oppressed, and 
its invitation has the endorsement of its visible progress. What 
nation has enlarged its census roll, or its territorial area, or the 
individual prosperity of its citizens as ours has done ? Ouly 
two hundred and fifty years ago the Pilgrim Fathers stood on 
Plymouth Rock : 

Amid the storm they sang, 

And the stars heard, and the sea ; 
And the sounding aisles of the dim woods rang 

To the anthem of the free. 

Before them, stretching from ocean to ocean, were the tangled 
wastes of a wilderness — the abiding-place of savage beasts and 
savage men. See, now, what marvellous contrast is presented. 
Look on the smiling face of the land. See the harvests of the 
West, and the white-winged commerce of the East ; how cities, 
towns, villages, have sprung up as if by the magic spell of 
enchantment ; how canals float our ships from lake to sea ; how 
railroads have laid their iron tramways over plains — spanning 
rivers — tunnelling mountains. See the churches whose spires 
lift the finger of prayer up into the sky ; and the school-houses, 
which are the nurseries of American thrift, culture and states- 
manship. All this, and more, — aye, more ! the result of only 
ninety years of a government hardly equalled, certainly never 
excelled. 

O, Beautiful ! My Country ! ours once more ! 

What were our lives without thee ; 

What all our lives to save thee ; 

We reck not what we gave thee ; 

We will not dare to doubt thee. 
Bow down, dear Land, for thou hast found release ; 

Bow down, in prayer and praise ; 

Thy God, in these distempered days. 
Hath taught thee the sure wisdom of His ways. 
And through thine enemies hath wrought thy peace. 



52 

Let the American citizen study the institutions fostered by 
this goverament ; let him appreciate the freedom of the people ; 
let him reverence, as he ought, the glory of our flag, which has 
caught within its folds a full constellation of stars, and then 
he will understand, in some measure, the significance of those 
talismanic words which are a passport and protection in every 
quarter of the globe — *■' I am an American citizen ! " 

Look over this country. No nation ever had so valuable 
territorial resources ; none ever had given in trust such noble 
principles of government. The simple statement of a few facts 
is overwhelming. We have a frontier line of more than ten 
thousand miles. AYe have a sea-coast of four thousand, and a 
lake-coast of twelve hundred. The longest river in Europe — 
the famous Danube, which washes the feet of Vienna, is but 
half the size of our Mississippi. The song of the Rhine has 
been sung by every tongue, but even our Ohio is six hundred 
miles longer than that. The Thames flows by the Roman 
embankments which gave foothold to the city of London, but 
our little Hudson bears its wealth of merchandise and beauty to 
the bosom of New York, and is a hundred and twenty miles 
longer than the famous English stream. The whole of England 
might be put into the old State of Virginia, and yet leave margin 
enough to form a State nearly the size of Massachusetts! Our 
territories embrace over a billion of acres, with only a popula- 
tion of less than half a million. There is elbow-room for multi- 
tudes of people yet to come. A grand, prosperous, free home 
opens its doors with a wide hospitality in this country, to the 
deserving of all climes. And not only is there land, but there 
are the honest thrift and the resolute activity resulting from 
these great and generous national principles, which, like granite 
blocks cut from the quarry of eternity, underlie our govern- 
mental institutions. While, tried by fire, we have that last, 
that grandest of all possessions, — a clear, heroic, American 
manhood. This is the jewel in our crown ; this, the central 
luminary in our constellation ; this, the rich product of our 
fathers' fidelity ; this, the chiefest boon to be transmitted to 
posterity. 

Fifth regular toast : 

Lexington Common and Concord North Bridge. 



53 

Response by Hon. J. M. Usher, who spoke of the glory 
of the early history of Lexington, and believed that the 
services of the day were a pledge that the future of the 
town would be equal to her past. 

Sixth regular toast : 

The Orator of the Day — The thrillitig eloquence of his 
address is equalled only by his ardent patriotism. 

Dr. George B. Loeing responded : 

I know of no position more difficult and embarrassing than 
that of the Orator of the Day, when called upon to respond to a 
toast complim'entary to himself. Every other man in the com- 
munity finds some one ready and willing to respond for him. 
Every topic finds an advocate. The Governor has his aide, who 
can present his case gracefully and eloquently. The President 
of the United States always has an admiring friend, who is 
ready to speak for him. The Flag has its eulogist; the "day 
we celebrate," its historian. But the unhappy orator is com- 
pelled, after having worn out the patience of the audience in 
one place, to test his powers on his own behalf, in another. 
And after my long and severe demand upon your time, I really 
feel ashamed to proceed again. 

I must apologize for the length of my oration. It was a 
wise thought of my friend Mr. Hudson, when he urged brevity 
with his invitation. But I could not help it. The charm of 
the subject led me on ; and I beg you and him to forgive 
me, and to charge upon yourselves the fault of having a 
fascinating history which led me away. And then there wxre 
certain associations, which I could not forget as the task went 
on. I remembered that to Essex County belongs a share of the 
glories of this early era and of this day. It was the coiirage 
and resolution of Col. Pickering and his little band, at the 
North Bridge in Salem which set an example not forgotten by 
the men of Lexington and Concord. It was John Felt, walk- 
ing by the side of Col. Leslie on his march through Salem in 
search of secreted cannon, and threatening him with instant 
death if he ordered his men to fire, whose spirit attended me as 
I warmed my heart over the valor of your town. And the men 



54 

of Danvers, who rushed to the fray, leaving their comrades oq 
the field, the first offering of that patriotic town to the cause of 
freedom ; they too attended me in my labors. So too Abed- 
nego Judkins of Swampscott, (I think that was the Puritanic 
name he bore,) seizing his fowling-piece, and hastening to the 
fight with unshod feet, and his half-cooked hoe-cake under his 
arm, came on in the procession of Essex boys, to assure me that 
of whatever I said for Middlesex, they would claim a share. 
Do you wonder then that my story was a long one ? To me I 
assure you it is most interesting, and I thank most deeply your 
Committee for giving me an opportunity to dwell for a season 
among scenes and memories so grand. I give you — 

The Revolutionary Heroes of Essex and Middlesex — Their 
united devotion to the great cause of Freedom has never been 
forgotten by their sons. 

Seventh regular toast : 

The Men of Lexington who fell on the \^th of April, 1775 — 
Good seed well sown ; it has produced a harvest of glory. 

Response by Rev. A. B. Muzzey, a descendant of one 

of the soldiers in the battle of Lexington : 

Mr. President : 

With the first knowledge of your intention to dedicate this 
fair and substantial edifice on the 19th of April, I resolved to be 
present as a spectator on the occasion. My attachment to my 
native town grows more and more strong as I descend the vale 
of years ; and the connection of my own relatives with the 
scenes of this ever-memorable day, increases and intensifies this 
interest. One of the proto-martyrs, whose names are on that 
tablet, Isaac Muzzey, was my kinsman. Amos Muzzey, my 
grandfather, was a member of that Spartan band commanded 
by Parker, the Leonidas of the Revolution. My own father, 
born on the 19th of April, saw the British column, a boy of 
nine, on that day, and half a century afterward he took the 
depositions of five of the survivors of Captain Parker's com- 
pany, to the effect that they witnessed the return of the British 
fire by our soldiers. And, in the recent struggle to save the 
life of the republic, out of fourteen of my name and blood, of 
the age to bear arms, eleven took part in the contest. 



55 

For another reason I rejoice to be with you at this time. 
The men of my profession took a conspicuous share in our great 
Revolution. In their preaching and their devotions on the Sab- 
bath, they remembered their country. When President Lano-- 
don offered prayer with our troops on Cambridge Common, as 
they left, in gloom and doubt but with brave hearts, for the 
bloody struggle of the 17th of June, he followed a custom not 
uncommon in that eventful period. What Macaulay says of 
the early Puritans was true of their descendants ; seconded and 
supported by their ministers, they were men " who could look 
calmly upon the stormy battle, because they had first looked 
upward to God." To Jonas Clark the pastor of Lexington, it 
was in large measure owing that this town so early took a 
bold and decided stand for the rights and liberties of the Colo- 
nies. Not only by his appeals in the pulpit, but by his zeal and 
perseverance in private and in public, by his sound judgment 
and broad views, he showed himself a statesman, and fitted for 
a far higher sphere than he ever reached. By his voice and by 
his pen, he took a prominent part in many measures that led on 
to the final establishment of our civil and religious rights, and 
to the independence of these United States. 

To Mr. Clark's influence, joined to their own inherent patri- 
otism, it was due that, so early as 17G5, the inhabitants of 
Lexington at a public meeting asserted their chartered rights 
and privileges, and protested against the odious Stamp act. 
Nor did they limit their interest to themselves; but in 1768 
they chose a delegate to "join," as they expressed it, "such as 
were, or might be, sent from the several towns in the Province, 
to consult and advise what may be best for the public good at 
this critical juncture." In 1769 they passed a vote " not to use 
any tea or snuff till the duties are taken off." And in 1774, 
they chose a delegate to the Provincial Congress. 

Thus from the beginning was seen the influence of these local 
municipalities on the destiny of the whole country. In every 
land, but nowhere more remarkably than in this, it is manifest 
that the history of towns is a most important part in the history 
of nations. Towns are only the elements of nations ; and 
whatever affects the well-being of the one, affects that also of 
the other. John Adams, writing of the situation of beleaguered 
Boston in 1775, says, "the condition of that beloved town will 



56 

plead with all America with more irresistible persuasion than 
augels, triimpet,-toDgued." 

There is a peculiar fitness in combining, as you do this day, 
the dedication of your " Town and Memorial Hall." The two 
are inseparably connected. The course pursued by this town, 
from the inception of the Revolution down to the present day, 
has been not of local interest alone, but national. The whole 
country has an equal share in the great system of free, repre- 
sentative institutions, the inauguration of which was insured on 
this spot the 19th of April, 1775. These memorial tablets 
record indeed only the names of the sacred band belonging to 
your own town. But Parker led more than that little company 
who stood on yonder green ; he led the embattled host that par- 
took of his and their spirit thenceforth. When he rallied his 
men in the afternoon of that signal day, and met the returning 
enemy, he prefigured our noble army, which, again and again, 
with thinned ranks and amid fallen comrades, returned to the 
dread fields of that long and bloody struggle. 

" Lexington, in the sacrifice of that day," as our worthy his- 
torian tells us, " lost, including all her killed and wounded, both 
morning and afternoon, more than one-sixth of her entire com- 
pany, — a proportion greater than that of the most sanguinary 
battle-fields in all history." Who can be surprised that her 
illustrious example stirred the entire continent to arms ? Who 
can wonder that no less than twenty cities and towns in the 
Union have taken her venerated name ? AVlierever, indeed, the 
great gospel of liberty shall be made known, this which she 
hath done, shall be told also for a memorial of her. 

I rejoice that the new monument, projected nearly twenty 
years since, and made the occasion of that eloquent address of 
Everett to the whole people of the United States, was not lost 
sight of; but you have combined with its noble purpose the still 
wider object of a memorial to those of this town who fell in 
the late civil war. You do well to add the plan of a Public 
Library. So should it be always ; light and liberty, the educa- 
tion of the people, step by step with the extension of our limits 
and the progress of each age. They were our intelligent yeo- 
manry, freeholders and freemen, who here laid tlje corner-stone 
of the republic. They who thought deeply, as well as felt 
strongly, in the infancy of our freedom, did their part toward 



57 

the emancipatioQ of these colonies, no less than the gallant 
Parker and the determined men in his command. 

They fought for their firesides, but not for them alone. That 
was indeed a sad night when the alarm guns were fired and the 
drum beat to arms. Dark, indeed, was that day when wives 
and mothers and sisters saw those dearest to them go forth, not 
knowing the dim future, but sure that some homes must be 
made desolate. Stern was the summons to check their tears, 
and bind up the bleeding wounds, and speak peace to the dying. 
Would that we could do justice to their service and sacrifice. 
What better can we do than to ponder their example and imbibe 
their spii'it ? With this " memorial">^of the past, we can learn 
from them the great lesson that the love of home and the love 
of country should be one and indissoluble in our hearts. We 
were taught in the recent test of our institutions, for which new 
patriot-martyrs, thank God, sprang up, that we are never to rest 
on our arms, and feel sure that the country is safe. We may 
well to-day, as we look at the alienations and the disuniting 
causes and tendencies among portions of the people, and in our 
national councils, take up the strain of the elder Quincy, who 
died just before our Republic was born, " Now is the time to 
summon every aid, human and divine, to exhibit every moral 
virtue, and call forth every Christian grace. The wisdom of 
the serpent, the innocence of the dove, and the intrepidity of 
the lion, with the blessing of God, will save us." 

In this home of our fathers, let us drink at the same fountain 
of pure patriotism from which the men whose names we here 
consign to our children, drank in the day of their perils and 
toils, their anxieties and their sacrifices, on to the pouring out of 
their life-blood. And may the draught invigorate us for every 
high duty we owe to this consecrated soil, the protection of our 
domestic altars, the repression of all narrow and selfish pur- 
poses, the upholding of our free institutions, and the perpetuity 
of the Union. 

Eighth regular toast : 

Memorial Hall — Devoted to the memory of the martyrs of 
liberty and patriotism, 

" Who seem to die in such a cause 
We cannot call them dead." 



58 

Response, " Auld Lang Sjne," by the Band. 

Ninth regular toast : 

The Cary Library — A supplement to the common school, 
calculated to improve and elevate the community. 

Eloquently responded to by Hon. Joseph White, 
Secretary of the State Board of Education. 

Tenth regular Toast : 

77ie Soldiers of the late War — Let not the depth of our 
remembrance of the dead make us forget the claims of the 
living. 

Responded to by Col. John W. Hudson. 

Mr. President: 

It is strikingly true of Lexington in one particular, that her 
experience during the late rebellion was an epitome of that of 
the nation ; for the officers and men who served on her quota, 
(and the same is true of those who have, since the war, come 
here to live,) were to be found in active service in nearly all the 
departments into Avhich the military forces of the Union were 
divided, from 1861 to 1865. 

Of such of these gentlemen as survive the war I will gladly 
say a few words, since they are too unassuming to say much 
about themselves. Indeed, one of them, now resident here and 
well known to you, Capt. Morse,* served zealously in the field 
for two years, and was then so severely wounded in battle that 
the surgeons despaired of his life ; and yet some of our people 
were not awai'e that he had been in the service at all. 

Of the experiences of these men, no town need have been 
ashamed. You have already been told by Gen. Chamberlain 
how early one of the CiiANDLEuf family began his active service. 
Another I (one of the Marshals to-day) enlisted in a militia 
company about the same time, bore a part, with several com- 
rades from the town, in the first battle of Bull Run, and with 
one of these § was wounded and carried away to Libby Prison ; 
and there Chandler was reduced so low and detained so long 

♦ Capt. John N. Morse, 35th Mass. Vols. 

tEuMAKD T. Chandler, 3d M. V. M.— afterwards 22d Mass. Vols. 

X Samcel E. Chandler, Stli M. V. M., and afterwards Adj't of a Mo. Cav. Regt. 

^IlENRY A. Anoikr, r)tll M. V. M. 



59 

that he was given up, at length, for dead, and remarks appro- 
priate to such a supposition were made in one of our churches. 

Others, of those still living, participated in the battles of the 
Peninsula, from Yorktown to Malvern Hill, in the disasters of 
Pope's Eetreat, in the struggles at South Mountain, Antietam, 
Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, in the closely contested 
operations in North and South Carolina, and in the tremendous 
contlict at Gettysburg ; and from the best information I can 
obtain, they quite uniformly helped sustain the reputation for 
courage and steadiness of the 12th, loth, 16th, 22d, 24th, and 
other regiments, in which they served. One* of those present 
to-day lost an arm in rescuing the colors of the 22d regiment at 
Gaines' Mills, and received some slight wounds afterwards. At 
Antietam several of those who survive were severely injured, — 
one of them, Lieut. Dean, of the 35th regiment, (also one of 
the Marshals to-day,) so badly that he has literally been rescued 
from the jaws of death. 

In the assaults made and received by the Army of the Poto- 
mac in its long campaign under Gen. Grant, many of these men 
well sustained their 'parts at the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, the 
North Anna, Cold Harbor, the investment of Petersburg, the 
battle at the Mine, and the incessant extensions of the lines to 
the left, till at last the enemy's works were taken, and, after a 
short pursuit of Lee, our labor was done. And then it fell to 
the lot of Lexington, of all the towns of the loyal States, to 
furnish the excellent and experienced commissaryf who was 
selected out of the whole Army to go over to Appomattox Court 
House and ration the prisoners there taken and paroled. 

At Spottsylvania, where the Second Corps captured the entire 
division of Bushrod Johnson, some of the soldiers of this town 
were at the extreme front in that wild scene, one of whom, already 
distinguished by heroic service in seizing the colors of his regi- 
ment just as they had been twice struck down — in which act he 
was dangerously wounded — and by marked good conduct on all 
occasions, here actually crowded his way through the enemy at 
the head of his company, doing probably as good service as any 
person on that field. I refer to another of the Marshals, Major 

* LoDis E. Crone, now Captain U. S. Army, resident in Lexington, 
t Major LoRiNC. W. Muzzey, A. C. 8. Vols. 



60 

Capelle of the IGth regiment, who left the State a corporal and 
came home promoted and brevetted for bravery ia action. 

And a few days later, in a most gallant charge upon two suc- 
cessive lines of works, another of your guests to-day, Major 
IvELiHER,* now of Lexington, was nearly torn in pieces by a 
shell, so that all I can find of his subsequent experience with 
his regiment, is the fact that he returned to the front and was 
honorably discharged for his injuries. 

Several times as Grant knocked at "the gates of Petersburg, 
it became necessary, as a part of his plans, to make demonstra- 
tions before Eichmond. In these demonstrations — nothing less 
than severe, and, of course, hopeless battles — in the 24th and 
other regiments, several of the men of whom I am speaking, 
constantly assisted, and not Avithout adding to ali'eady well- 
earned reputations for distinguished courage. 

And let it not be forgotten that onef of your citizens, who 
served faithfully in the Army of the Potomac, and is also 
your guest to-day, survives the hardships and fiendish horrors 
of the Andersonville Prison. 

In other parts of the country, too, — in the movements of the 
army of Buell and Ilosecrans,j in the capture of New Orleans, 
the siege of Vicksburg, the defence of Knoxville, and the deliv- 
erance of the forces hemmed in at Chattanooga, in the gallant 
!Navy,§ and wherever our arms were borne except, perhaps, the 
North West, some of these gentlemen sustained their full shai'e 
of the hardships, the romance and the glory of the grand con- 
flict. One of them, Page,|| (another of your guests,) lost his arm 
as Hooker's command, to which he belonged, was securing 
Lookout IMountain, while the rest of the forces near Chatta- 
nooga carried Missionary Ridge, and the combined movement 
opened the way for the capture of Rome and Atlanta, and for 
the great march to the sea. 

And I can testify, from personal observation, of the alacrity 
with which such services have been performed. For exam- 
ple, while the first movement against the ridge that shielded 

* Major John KELinEH, 20th Mass. Vols. 

t Georck 15. Dr.NNETT, 12tli Mass. "Vols. 

X Colonel .John G. Chandler, U. S. A., of Lexington, served in this army. 

'^ Among oiliLTs, John Wiutaian, Acting Ensigu, U. S. N. 

II GuovNEU A. Paue, 33d Mass. Vols. 



61 

Petersburg, was in progress, I was unexpectedly greeted 
one afternoon by a young man, a neighbor at home, from the" 
very borders of Lexington Common, and who was then serving 
in a Massachusetts regiment in the Fifth Corps. I know 
not why I should conceal the fact that he bore the honored 
name of Harrington.* He told me it was his brigade, the rear 
of which was nearly concealed in the woods close by, and that 
he supposed they were going to charge the rebel position which, 
be understood, lay beyond. We enjoyed a few minutes' pleasant 
talk of home and of army affairs, when the bugles in the woods 
sounded the attention. " My brigade is going in," said he, 
" those are our bugles ; " and with a hasty good-bye, and the 
outward appearance of as light a heart as if he were bidden to 
a festival of peace, he seized his musket and disappeared into 
the woods at the steady double-quick step of the trained soldier. 
Five minutes later I heard the desultory skirmish fire, and then 
the rapid and confused sound of musketry, which indicated 
plainly enough the fact that his brigade had indeed gone in, 
and was sharply contending for what, I know too well, became 
from that day forth, historic ground. He survives the war, but 
not, it would seem, because he shunned its dangers. 

Several years ago a quite young man, then resident in town, 
left our High School and removed to the West, where for a time 
we lost sight of him. After the war began we heard that he 
was in the Volunteer Army, and that he was serving as a 
drummer. He was in the army, an enlisted man, but not a 
drummer, nor yet a clerk at head-quarters, for Avhich position 
his penmanship and other acquirements would have fitted him 
uncommonly well. He was a corporal in the ranks, armed and 
accoutred with musket and cartridge-box and forty rounds, a 
member of the 11th Illinois Infantry. He was at Fort Donel- 
son, " hereafter," as Grant's order declared, to "be marked in 
capitals on the map of our united country." There, after a night 
of terrible hardship, necessarily passed without fires, — the mer- 
cury only ten degrees above zero, — the troops sustained an 
almost overwhelming attack from the enemy, when at length 
a general assault was ordered and persisted in till a com- 
manding position was gained, and the fate of the stronghold was 

* George P. Haurington, 22d Mass. Vols. 



02 

decided. In this bold and bloody struggle our corporal was so 
severely wounded that, for more than six months, he was unable 
to leave his bed. He has a double claim, therefore, to rank 
with those to whom Grant's order referred in the further words, 
" and the men who fought the battle will live in the memory of 
a grateful people." He Avas honorably discharged for his 
wounds ; yet even after this experience he did active and useful 
militia service on the Mississippi so long as such service was 
needed. He* is now your valued and honored townsman of 
Lexington, none other than our present Town Clerk. 

I have been thus particular, sir, in adverting to the services 
of the persons to whom the sentiment referred, because I feared 
that in the attention which we all give to the affairs of the hour, 
■what was already known of the deeds of your own soldiers 
might be forgotten, and because I believed that, without some 
such reminder, more than these gentlemen in their modesty 
would offer, our people would neither know nor conjecture how 
many of the painful toils and grander scenes of the late great 
war are represented in the very men whom you have been 
accustomed to see daily walking your quiet streets. 

Eleventh regular toast : 

Acton — Her sacrifices on the 19th of April, 1775, show that 
her patriotism was not confined to her own soil. 

Twelfth regular toast : 

Arlinglon — A way-station between Boston and Lexington, 
where Lord Percy's baggage train was switched oflT the track. 

In answ^er to the inquiry, What became of Percy's bag- 
gage? some one facetiously replied, that Percy got a check 
for it. 

Thirteenth regular toast : 

Tlie City of Charlestown — She glories with no ignoble pride 
in the possession within her borders of soil consecrated to 
liberty. 

The following letter from Mayor Kent was read in 
response : — 

* Leonard Q. Babcock, Esq. 



63 

City of Charlestoivn, Mayor's Office, Ajjril 18, 1871. 
Hon. Charles Hudson, Chairman., &c. : — 

Dear Sir,— I have received your invitation to be present to-mor- 
row, on the anniversary of the battle of Lexington. I should be 
exceedingly gratified to be with you, but my engagements will not 
admit of it. The city of Charlestown has much in its history and 
associations, in common with those of your ancient town, and it 
cannot but sympathize with you on an occasion of so much interest 
to her as well as to you. If I understand the character of your 
services, you are to- commemorate not only the deeds of the Fathers, 
who died to achieve Liberty, but also those of their descendants who 
died to preserve it. 

Fitting and right it is, that, on such an Anniversary day, the 
people should come together, and, as it were, renewedly consecrate 
the memories of these men. As long as Bunker Hill Monument 
shall stand — as long as the enduring marble on your Common shall 
remain — as long as one stone of your JNIemorial Hall shall rest upon 
another— as long as the record of great deeds done, shall last— so 
long let us and our children cherish in all its vital force and essence, 
that idea, the value of which both the fathers and the sons sealed 
with their blood — the idea of Liberty under the Law. 

Thanking you personally, and in behalf of the city of Charlestown, 
for the courtesy extended to me, 

I have the honor to remain. 

Your obedient servant, 

Wm. H. Kent. 

Ex-Mayor Eobinson of Charlestown, who was called 
upon, responded in the following eloquent speech : — 

Mr. President. I hardly expected to be called on to respond 
for the City of Charlestown. After the appropriate letter which 
has just been read from her worthy Mayor, no word of mine is 
necessary in her behalf Charlestown needs no one to respond 
for her. The history of what she has done and suffered in the 
cause of liberty, is always eloquent, and its remembrance is a 
fitj-iug response on this occasion. But, Sir, I am proud to 
speak for her here to-day, and am happy to be present and par- 
ticipate in these memorial services and festivities. Charlestown 
rejoices with Lexington. Both have much in common ; both 
possess soil on which patriotic men braved death, in order that 
a nation might live. Lexington is suggestive of Concord and 



64 

Bnuker Hill, — three noble names which will be remenibered 
and cherished so long as the history of American Independence 
shall be preserved. 

This goodly town has much of which to be proud. She has 
other honors than that of April 19, 1775. The grandfather of 
John Hancock — that great patriot of the Revolution — was a 
minister here for fifty-four years ; his father was born in this 
town, and it almost seems as though he was a child of Lexing- 
ton. Then, too, it is not unworthy of mention, that the Rev. 
Jonas Clark was for many years, the venerable and respected 
minister in this place. He was fitted for the times in which he 
lived. How much do we, how much did the men of his day 
owe to him, for the words of patriotism and religion which he 
uttered in the old meeting-house on the Common. His preach- 
ing did much to strengthen and fire the hearts of our patriotic 
fathers, and enable them to meet with firmness, the day of trial 
and of blood. I have sometimes thought that the lessons which 
he taught, and the spirit which animated him were learned and 
caught by Captain John Parker, the commander of that heroic 
company who faced the British soldiery on the day which we 
now cornmemorate, and, by some subtle process, communicated 
to his grandson. 

Theodore Parker was a son of Lexington. I mention his 
name with love and respect. Although his religious views may 
not be accepted, there can be no one so prejudiced as not to 
honor him for his great, self-sacrificing life — his noble words 
and eflbrts in behalf of freedom and the uplifting of his fellow- 
men. His grandfather, on yonder green, met the enemies of 
his countrymen, in order to secure liberty for the white man, 
but his grandson, with a broader love and an universal applica- 
tion of the principles of liberty, contended for the freedom of 
all. And it is not too much to say, that his labors and efforts 
contributed in a large degree, to secure the liberation of four 
millions of slaves. In this place of his birth, let us not be 
unmindful of his goodness, his purity of life, his devotion to 
what he believed to be right, and of that independence of spirit 
whicli was intolerant of every kind of bondage. Let us keep 
his memory in sweet remembrance, for he Avas a worthy 
descendant of a noble patriot, and a fair fruit of his native soil. 



65 

Mr. President, you must excuse me if I become a little 
exuberant. I am at home again ; every souud is merry, and 
everything is pleasttnt ; 

" Home, home, sweet, sweet home, 
there's no place Uke home." 

I am a boy again, and the by-gone days come back to me. 
Everything to-day greets me with a familiar face. These fields 
and hill-sides have been my play-grouuds — the neighboring 
woods have echoed to the sound of my gun — the streams and 
ponds on the outer limits of the town, have acknowledged the 
presence of my fishing-rod — and the streets and paths have 
responded to the footfall of my school-boy feet. I see around 
me many of my youtliful companions and playmates — many 
others to whom I looked up with respect and confidence — others 
who warmed my young heart by words of encouragement, and 
familiar faces greet me on every side. 

But alas ! As I look about me I miss many well-remem- 
bered forms, and my youthful vision vanishes. No, no, I am 
not a boy again ; there has been a change. 

The occasion, however, which has brought us together, recalls 
me from such thoughts as these, and inspires other emotions 
and suggests other themes. It is a privilege to be here ; it is 
also our right and our duty. The sight of the old flag enkin- 
dles our patriotic ardor, and the eloquent oration to which we 
have this day listened, cannot but cause us to appreciate more 
highly, the blessings of American liberty, and of those institu- 
tions which are the safeguards of a free people. Our country 
has become the home of a great nation ; we all rejoice in her 
prosperity, and stand proudly erect because of our citizenship. 
By the great principles of truth, liberty and justice, has she 
advanced in her honorable career, and taken her place in the 
front rank of nations, and the day is not far distant when the 
star-spangled banner shall wave in beauty over the continent, 
from the North Pole to the Isthmus, as it now does from the 
Atlantic to the Pacific shores, and the great glory of all shall 
be, that every one, however humble, and ©f whatever color, 
shall stand erect in the freedom of liberty and law, and there 
shall be none to make him afraid. 



m 

Sir, I can feelingly respond to the sentiment just offered. I 
am a native of this town ; the family of my father had relatives 
in the battle of Lexington ; my mother is a descendant of the 
Hosmers of Acton, who, at the old North Bridge in Concord, 
with their compatriots, met the British foe, 

" And fired the shot heard round the world ; " 
and until recently, my residence was on the spot over which the 
red coats passed in their assault at Bunker Hill. These three 
historic places can glory with each otlier in the possession of an 
honorable fame. Each has a record sufficient for itself, and has 
no cause to disparage that of the other. Surely, Charlestown 
rejoices with Lexington and Concord in the possession by each 
of that which is dear to us all; and she cannot more fittingly 
respond on this occasion than in the expression of the hope that 
each recurring anniversary of the great events of 1775 Avill 
deepen the interest which the people of the three towns have in 
the welfare of each other, and that the sympathy and good feeling 
which arise from sufferings in a common cause, will become 
broader and fraternal, and yearly consecrate anew the soil sacred 
to the cause of liberty. 

Fourteenth regular toast : 

The Clergy of our day — They have a shining example in the 
Lexington pastor of 1775. 

Eev. Edwaed G. Porter responded : — 

Mr. President: 

I was just leaving the hall when your committee detained me 
to say a word in reply to this toast. If there were time I 
would gladly speak of the important services rendered to the 
cause of patriotism by the eminent men, who, through succes- 
sive generations, occupied the old Lexington pulpit. This town 
will never forget the names of Hancock and Clark, whose 
united ministry extended over the remarkable period of one 
hundred and five years. They had long pastorates in those days 
as well as long sermons ; and the accounts do not show that the 
people were weary of either. Some of their sermons have 
lately come into my hands — quaint looking documents, all worn 
by use and stained by time. Tliey are written generally in a 
vigorous, logical style, and show a thorough knowledge of the 



67 

Scriptures as well as a deep interest in the events of the time. 
No one was before the Rev. Jonas Clark in catching the spirit 
of freedom, which in the spring of '75 began to spread with 
such rapidity among the colonists. 

If the men of Lexington were ready when the call of duty 
came, it was because they had long been trained to a high esti- 
mate of liberty in civil as in religious matters. In the old 
" meeting-liouse," (which I wish Avere still standing among us, 
as a memorial of those times,) they often heard strong appeals 
to stand firm by the principles which they had inherited from 
the Fathers of New England. 

I trust, sir, that with such bright examples before us, the 
ministry and the citizens of Lexington will ever be true to those 
lofty and patriotic sentiments which have to-day been repeated 
in our hearing, and which we are proud to have inscribed upon 
our Tablets with the names of our honored dead. 

This closed the regular toasts of the occasion, but a few 
voluntary sentiments and speeches were indulged, of which 
we are able to notice the following : 

The Ladies of Lexington : 

Offered by Hon. S. B. Rindge, and responded to by 
cheers. 

Our Generous Benefactress, Mrs. Maria Cary — Many daugh- 
ters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all. 

Offered by the President of the day, who accompanied 

the sentiment with a neat speech. 

The exercises were brought to a close by a grand 
ball in the newly dedicated Hall, where the time was 
pleasantly passed in social greetings of old and new friends 
and festive enjoyments till the " wee' small hours of the 
night." 

The occasion throughout was one of universal enjoy- 
ment, and will be long remembered with pleasure by those 
who were so fortunate as to participate in it.- 



APPENDIX. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH. 

In compiling a Historical Sketch of the inception and completion of 
the New Tou-n Ball, embracing as it does within its walls, a ToAvn 
Hall especially adapted to municipal purposes and for the public use 
of citi'zens, a Memorial Hall, commemorative of great events in 
national and local history, and a Library Hall, for the accommoda- 
tion of a Free Public Library, — there is need to refer to various 
sources, all contributing to the accomplishment of the work just 
completed. These are the action of the Town, the Lexington Monu- 
ment Association and Mr. and Mrs. Cary through it, and other 
endowments, chiefly of Mrs. Caky, to the Library and to the general 
purposes of the Building. 

The matter of improved accommodations for municipal and popular 
uses, was agitated for several years in the Town, and various plans 
of enlargement and improvement of the old Hall suggested, and 
committees appointed from time to time to examine the subject. 
The desirability of improvement had been for a long time conceded, 
but no acceptable proposition was submitted until certain proffers of 
aid from Mrs. Caky were made, which brought the subject before 
the citizens in a more encouraging aspect. In October, 1869, Mrs. 
Maria Cary communicated to the Selectmen a proposal to donate 
six thousand dollars for the purpose of fitting up a Memorial Hall 
and Town Library Ilall, providing the Town should within three 
years erect a suitable buihliiig for municipal purposes, to embrace in 
its construction suitable accommodations lor those objects. The 
proposal was laid before the citizens at its annual town-meeting, 
in November of the same year The subject was referred to a 
Committee consisting of Messrs. Charles Hudson, John Hastings, 
Sar(;f,nt C. WmciiKii, IIammon Rkki>, Lukk C. Ciiilps, Wahrkn 
E. Rus.SKLL and Rkui'.kn W . Wkv.d, who were empowered to consult 



69 

architects and to procure plans and estimates. The committee 
reported at a special town-meeting called for the purpose, January 
25th, 1870, submitting plans and estimates and recommending the 
purchase of the site and the erection of a new Town Hall in accord- 
ance therewith. The report was accepted, its recommendations 
adopted, and the same gentlemen constituted a Building Committee 
with necessary powers, and provision made for funds to pay the cost. 
At the same meeting the proposition of Mrs. Gary was accepted and 
the Town Clerk directed to communicate to her the thanks of the 
citizens for her generous offer. 

The Committee immediately undertook their duties, secured the 
site and made contracts, and the work begun. Subsequently, in 
April, 1870, a further proposition was received from Mrs. Caky, 
increasing her donation in the aggregate to twenty thousand dollars, 
whereby ten thousand dollars were secured to the general purposes 
of the building, six thousand to the Library, and four thousand to 
the Memorial Hall through the Lexington Monument Association. 
By this munificent generosity the erection of the Building was so 
abundantly provided for that the Town was relieved from what might 
have been considered by some a serious financial burden. 



THE CARY LIBRARY. 

The origin, progress and present condition of the Cary Librnrij 
may be stated in brief as follows : — The want of greater facilities 
for general reading, being felt in this community, a few individuals in 
1866, associated and procured a social Library for the benefit of them- 
selves and their families. But Mrs. Maria Cary, taking a broader 
and more liberal view of the subject, and wishing to extend the benefits 
of the Library to all the citizens of her native Town, proposed in 1867, 
that if Lexington would establish a. free Library for the benefit of their 
entire population, she would place at their disposal the sum of one 
thousand dollars, the interest of which should be appropriated to the 
support of the said Library. At a meeting of the inhabitants of 
Lexington, legally held April 20, 18G8, it was voted to establish a 
free Library, to accept the generous offer of Mrs. Cary on the terms 
specified by her; and in gratitude to the donor, to give her name to 
the Library. The Town at the same meeting constituted the Select- 
men, the School Committee, and the settled Clergymen of the Town, 
the parties designated by Mrs. Cary as Trustees of her gift, a 
Committee to obtain books or money for a Library, and when they 
should secure an amount ecpial to four hundred dollai-s, they were 



70 

empowered, through the Selectmen, to draw one thousand dollars 
from the Treasury for the purchase of books. The Town also voted 
to provide a place for the Library, and a person to take charge of 
the same ; and to appropriate forty dollars annually towards 
replenishing the Library — which with the income of Mrs. Gary's gift, 
would secure one hundred dollars a year for the repair or purchase 
of books. 

The Farmer's Club, having a good Library of nearly five hundred 
volumes, generously gave their books to the Town ; and the Trustees 
immediately entered into negotiation with the members of the 
Social Library then recently formed, the greater part of whom 
readily gave their shares, and the rest were willing to sell out at 
cost ; so that the Town came in possession of two good Libraries of 
about eight hundred volumes, at a very moderate cost. The Trus- 
tees were also enabled to add about four hundred volumes of new 
books — making about twelve hundred volumes, when the Library 
was first opened to the public, which was on the 27th of January, 
18G8. Within the first three months, there were taken from the 
Library 1,670 volumes — being conclusive evidence that the institu- 
tion was duly appreciated by the people. 

Soon after the Library was opened to the public, Mr. Benjamin 
1)e Forest, a public spirited gentleman boarding in the Town, gen- 
erously placed in the hands of two of our citizens a check of one 
hundred dollars, to be expended at their discretion in the purchase 
of substantial, standard works for the Library. This with the 
annual expenditure, added about two hundi-ed volumes to the cata- 
logue of books the first year. 

Starting under such auspices, the Library has steadily increased by 
gifts and by purchase, till the present number of volumes is about 
two thousand ; and when the books are removed to the new Hall, 
we have the offer of from two hundred and fifty to three hundred 
more. Besides, the generous gift of Mrs. Gary of five thousand 
dollars to the permanent fund of the Library, will give us an annual 
income of between four and five hundred dollars to sustain this valu- 
able institution, which reflects so much honor upon the founder, and 
which promises to prove a lasting blessing to our inhabitants. 



THE MEMORIAL HALL. 

The Memorial Hall, which will always be a point of more or less 
attraction in our public edifice, is in a certain sense the offspring of 
the Lexington Monument Association. The impression becoming 
prevalent, that the Monument on the Common did not comport with 



71 

modern taste, some of our prominent citizens conceived the idea of 
superseding it by one more in accordance with the spirit of the age. 
In 1850 they obtained an act of incorporation, and organized a 
company, making the venerable Jonathan Harrington, the last 
survivor of the battle of Lexington, their President. Their object 
seems to have been simply to rear a more fashionable Monument in 
honor of the citizens of Lexington who fell on the 19th of April, 
1775. Nothing however was done more than to keep up the organi- 
zation till 1858, when broader and more liberal views prevailed. It 
was then perceived, that though the existing Monument was some- 
what antiquated in its appearance, it bore the impress and breathed 
the spirit of the Revolution, and was a fit memorial of the sturdy 
patriots to whose memory it was erected ; and it was resolved to 
give the proposed enterprise a national character, and erect a Monu- 
ment commemorative of the opening scene of the Revolutionary 
drama. To carry forward this idea a successful correspondence was 
commenced with some of the most distinguished men in the country, 
which resulted in an organization having Hon. Edward Everett for 
President, with Vice Presidents representing every section of the 
country, and each party in politics. The powers of the corporation 
were vested in a Board of Directors, residents of Lexington and 
vicinity. 

The general design of a Minute-man, placed on a lofty pedestal, 
was adopted, and distinguished artists were employed to perfect the 
design and mould the figure. A certificate of Membership, of artis- 
tic taste, combining a representation of the Monument and of the 
battle scene, was engraved, and the necessary measures were adopted 
to obtain the means to carry forward the enterprise. After expend- 
ing more than two thousand dollars in these preliminary measures, 
the flattering prospects of the Association were dispelled by the 
breaking out of the Rebellion. All efforts were suspended during 
the war, and on the return of peace almost every city and town had 
its attention called to some local Monument or memorial in honor of 
its own fallen patriots. 

When the effort was made in 1858 and '59, to give the enterprise 
a national character, William H. Gary, Esq., of Brooklyn, N. Y., 
one of the Vice Presidents of the Association, and a native of 
Massachusetts, manifested a lively interest in the undertaking, and, 
having a summer residence in Lexington, the birth-place of his wife, 
intimated to some of the officers of the Association that he would 
render some pecuniary assistance towards the completion of the 
object. But dying suddenly soon after, he made no provision in 
behalf of the proposed Monument. But his widow and his heirs 



72 

knowing his intention, with due respect to his memory and a generous 
sympathy for the r' '.ect in view, came forward unsolicited, and 
offered the i^.^sociation four thousand dollars in aid of the enterprise, 
three thousai, in land for a site, and one thousand in money when 
the work should be commenced. But the war, as we have seen, 
paralyzed the efforts of the Association, and peace found them 
unable to prosecute their design with any prospect of success. 

In this state of things Mrs. Qary, ever interested in the prosper- 
ity and honor of the place of her nativity, proposed in behalf of 
herself and friends, that if the Association would relinquish their 
claim upon the land, and permit it to be sold, the avails of the sale 
should be passed over to the Association, and that she would make 
up the sum to four thousand dollars — the said Association to hold it 
in trust, till the Town should erect a suitable Memorial Hall, when 
the sum thus given should be expended in tablets or other suitable 
emblems in honor of the heroes of the Revolution and of the late 
war. The Association executed a release of the land, and the 
money stipulated has been promptly paid over, and is to be expended 
agreeably to the wish of the donors. The original design of a 
Minute-man has been adhered to ; and the combination of the heroes 
of the two wars, does equal honor to the memory of those who won 
our independence, and those who sustained the union of the States. 

Thus has the Town been mainly indebted for the means of fitting 
up the Memorial Hall, to Mrs. Gary and her friends, with the 
cheerful cooperation and aid of the Lexington Monument Associa- 
tion, through whose efforts means are being obtained to complete the 
design and fill the remainine niches. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE BUILDING. 

The Town Hall is situated on Main Street, and occupies a por- 
tion of the lot on which the Lexington House formerly stood, and 
which was subsequently occupied as a young ladies' school. The 
structure is an ornate piece of French architecture, presenting four 
facades to the eye, of two stories in height, surmounted by a double 
Louvre roof, within which is a third story. In outline of ground- 
plan the building is a parallelogram, or rectangle, of 9o feet in length 
by 58 feet in width, built of brick with freestone trimmings. The 
first story is entered under a portico, located in the centre of the 
principal facade. The entrance communicates with a staircase-hall of 
20 1-2 feet in width by 24 feet in depth, the hall containing the 



73 

principal staircases in two flights, each six feet in width, reaching to 
the second or hall story of the building, F' -king the staircase hall 
on each side are apartments for the Selectmen, -T-^—n Clerk, Post 
Office and other business purposes. The staircase I i communicates 
immediately with the Memorial Hall, which is situated on the same 
floor in a central part of the building, and consists of an octagon 
about nineteen feet in diameter, with four wings or corridors, 
radiating from it at right angles ''"ith each other. Two of these 
corridors, eight feet wide and nineteen feet long, extend to the 
walls of the building, where they receive the light of two large 
windows ; the remaining two connect, the one with the staircase 
hall, as above mentioned, with a width of eleven feet by fourteen, 
and the other by the same width about eight feet in length, with 
the Library Hall. The octagon is separated from the corridors 
only by an arch of about ten feet span and about twelve feet above 
the floor. On the arch in front, as you approach from the stair- 
case hall, is this inscription : 

LEXINGTON 

CONSECRATES THIS HALL AND ITS EMBLEMS 

TO THE MEMORY OF THE 

FOUNDERS AND THE DEFENDERS OF OUR FREE INSTITUTIONS. 

The angles between these corridor recesses are cut off, so as to 
present a face of about six feet, which are fini.shed in niches, in 
which are four marble pedestals, designed to receive life-size marble 
statues, two of which are nearly completed, and will soon be placed 
in position. 

The statue to be placed on the left from the entrance, is "The 
Minute Man of '76," and in the corridor recess to the left is a tablet 
of Italian mai'ble, framed in beautiful red-veined Lisbon marble, on 
which is the following inscription : 

"THE PLEDGE AND ITS REDEMPTION." 

, RESPONSE OF LEXINGTON TO THE 

APPEAL OF BOSTON, 
DEC. 18, 1773. 

" We trust in God that should the state of our affairs require it, we shall be ready to 

sacrifice our estates, and everything dear in life, yea, and even 

life itself, in support of the common cause." 

NAMES OF THE CITIZENS OF LEXINGTON WHO FELL IN FREEDOM'S 
CAUSE, APRIL 19, 1775. 

Ensign Rohert Munroe, Jonas Parker, Samuet, Hadi,ev, John Brown, 

Isaac Mlzzv, Caleb Harrington, Jon.a.tiian Harrincton, Jr. 

Jedediah Munroe, John Raymond, Nathaniel Wv.van. 

"They poured out their generous blood like water, before they knew whether it 
would fertilize a land of freedom or bondage."— WEBSTER. 



74 

On the rifjht and directly opposite the statue commemorative of 
the Revohition, stands the statue of " The Union Sohlier " of the war 
of the Rebellion, and a second tablet of like character is placed in 
the corridor recess near this, with the inscription, 

"THE SONS DEFENDED WHAT THE FATHERS WON." 

followed by the names of twenty soldiers of Lexington, who lost 
their lives in the late war. 

NAMES OF THE RESIDENTS OF LEXINGTON AND OTHERS SERVING ON 

HER QUOTA WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES TO THEIR COUNTRY IN 

THE WAR OF THE REBELLION. 

Frederick T>. Fiske. Cuari.es Fr.Acn. 

CiiATiLEs TI. FrsKE. Warren Kinnaston. 

Benjamin F. Thorn. .Toun F. Rehan. 

Wir.r.rAM D. Cotv. Dennis AfriMAiioN. 

John Mani.y. Thomas IT. Kari.e. 

Charles IT. Puffer. Timothy I.eary. 

Charles T1. TTARRiVfiTON. AVili.iam TT. Grover. 

Cnpt. Charles R. Johnson. Charles Cutler. 

John O'N'eil. Edward E. TTatch. 

Joseph Simonds. Charles O. Muzzev. 

Both of these statues and tablets are the work of J. G. Batterson, 
Esq., of Hartford, Conn. 

The two remaininjr niches are desijrned for marble statues of 
JoTiN Hancock and Samukl AnA>rs. which it is hoped will be fdlcd 
at no distant day. 

Passinjrfrom the rotunda, the remainder of the length and wirlth 
of this story of the building, forms the apartment which is to be 
occupied as a public library and reading-room. Tiiis apartment is 
.55 feet in length by 44 feet wide, and is to be furnished with all the 
accommodations and conveniences necessary for the purpose for 
which it is intended. 

The two rear outer corners of this npartment are occupied, one as 
a librarian's room, of 8 by 10 feet, and the other as a staircase and 
entry, forming a private entrance from the exterior to the Library 
and audience hall in the second story. 

The second story is mainly devoted to the purposes of an audience 
hall, the floor area of which is 56 by 70 feet, with a clear height of 
24 feet. A stage recess of 31 by 9 feet is flanked by anterooms, 
respectively 14 by 12 1-2 feet. The hall will seat about seven hun- 
dred persons, is amply lighted, and its walls and ceiling are tinted 
in parti-colors. There are two other anterooms in the front cor- 
ners of the hall, each 17 by Ifi feet, connecting immediately with the 
hall by sliding doors, which, when opened, would make the whole 
virtually one apartment. 



75 

A mezzanine, or intermediate story, in front and rear of tlie ball, 
contains two prosceninm boxes, over the two anterooms before men- 
tioned. There are ladies' and gentlemen's dressing-rooms over the 
two front anterooms. The whole interior of the building is finished 
in hard wood. 

About one-half the roof story is sub-divided into halls and other 
apartments, to be occupied by the Masonic Fraternity of the town. 
The remaining half is left unfinished. 

From the windows of the audience hall can be seen the spot where 
on the memorable 19th of April the Lexington farmers gathered to 
strike the first blow for American independence ; and the British 
troops marched past the spot where this building now stands to 
encounter them. You can also see the house which was at that time 
a tavern, where the patriots used to meet for consultation, and fur- 
ther away and just discernible, is the house then occupi(Ml by Rev. 
Jonas Clark, where Adams and Hancock passed the night of the 
18th of April preceding the Lexington fight. 

The building was erected, from designs prepared by Messrs. 
Gridley J. F. Bryant and Louis P. Rogers, architects, of Boston, by 
the lion. Albert Currier, of Newburyport. 



The Committee to whom was intrusted tlic preparation and 
publication of the proceedings at tlie Dedication of the Town 
and Memorial Hall, on the 19th of April last, respectfully report 
to their constituents and fellow citizens, that by causes beyond 
their control, the publication has been delayed longer than was 
anticipated ; but we believe that the value of the pamphlet has 
been increased by this delay, as it gave the speakers more time 
to write out and condense their remarks. Knowing that the 
exercises of the day met with the warm approbation of the 
piiblic, the Committee were desirous of preserving them entire, 
as far as practicable ; and consequently we called upon our 
invjted gnests who had enlivened our services at the table, to 
furnish iis with the substance of their remarks. Common 
civility required this at our hands, and we only regret that all 



76 

the gentlemen did not find it convenient to favor us with a copy 
of their speeches. 

It seemed to be due not only to the character of Lexington, 
but to the cause of history, and to the gentlemen who had 
honored us with their presence, that a full report of the proceed- 
ings of that day should be put in a form which would be 
preserved as a part of our local annals. We also deemed it due 
to those by whose liberality we have been aided in the erection 
of our edifice, and have been enabled to fit up our Memorial 
Hall, and our Library, to state briefly the origin of these 
institutions, that those who come after us may know to whom 
they are indebted for the blessiogs they enjoy. We have 
endeavored to give the public a pamphlet which, in its mechan- 
ical execution, will do no discredit to the town. It is no part of 
our duty to pass upon the merits of the performances of the 
day. We will oaly say that we cheerfully present them to 
the public, and invoke their judgment. Nor need we indulge 
in words of comment or compliment in regard to the Building, 
its proportions, arrangements or workmanship; they are subjoct 
to your criticism, and to the practical test of your occupancy. 
May the edifice long serve to cherish good government, patriotism 
and learning. 

Respectfully submitted, 

MATTHEW H. MERRL\M, 
CHARLES HUDSON, 
OLIVER P. MILLS, 

Committee of Publication. 



juu 4. ^ya 



m 



